Christopher Noel Hunter Lock (21 December 1894 – 27 March 1949) was a British aerodynamicist, after whom the Lock number is named.

Biography

Lock was born at Herschel House, Cambridge, the youngest son of

John Bascombe Lock John Bascombe Lock (18 March 1849–8 Sep 1921) was an English priest and academic, who was bursar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and author of several mathematical textbooks. He was born 18 March 1849 in Dorchester, son of Joseph Lock (2 ...

(18 March 1849 – 8 September 1921) who was bursar of

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of ...

, and Emily née Baily. His brother was

Robert Heath Lock Robert Heath Lock (19 January 1879 – 26 June 1915) was an English botanist and geneticist who wrote the first English textbook on genetics. Life Robert Heath Lock was the son of John Bascombe Lock, a priest and Eton College schoolmaster who ...

. Lock was a Scholar at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, and in 1912 was awarded a Major Scholarship at Gonville and Caius College, where he was the only b* wrangler of 1917. He took his BA in 1917, won a Smith's Prize in 1919, and became a fellow of Caius College in 1920. He was a member of the

Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section The Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the Munitions Inventions Department was an organisation set up within Lloyd George's Ministry of Munitions in early 1916. Originally based at Northholt aerodrome, in May 1916 the section moved to the Nat ...

, and in 1920 moved to the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, to work on the dynamics of shells. He conducted wide-ranging experiments, including on

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. ...

s, and became an authority on airscrews. From 1939 until his death, he ran the Aerodynamics Division's High Speed Research Group. He developed the pitot-traverse method for measuring

profile drag Parasitic drag, also known as profile drag, is a type of aerodynamic drag that acts on any object when the object is moving through a fluid. Parasitic drag is a combination of form drag and skin friction drag. It affects all objects regardless of ...

, and investigated the effect of

sweepback A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigat ...

at high

Mach number Mach number (M or Ma) (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Moravian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. : \mathrm = \ ...

s. He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Physical Society. He was a member of various committees of the

Aeronautical Research Council The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) was a UK agency founded on 30 April 1909, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. In 1919 it was renamed the Aeronautical Research Committee, later becoming the Aeronautical ...

Personal life

Lock married Lilian Mary née Gillman (1886/7–7 Oct 1966, aged 79) on 26 April 1924, at

St Leonard's Church, Streatham St Leonard's Church is a Church of England parish church in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade II listed building and occupies a prominent position on the west side of Streatham High Road, at its junction with Tooting Bec Gardens and Mi ...

. They had two sons, Robert Christopher (Robin) Lock (14 Aug 1925–19 March 1992) and John Michael Lock (25 Oct 1926–2 March 2002), who were both research students at Gonville & Caius.

References

External links

Publications by C. N. H. Lock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lock, C. N. H. Aerodynamicists Ballistics experts Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 1894 births 1949 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School