Paul MacCready
Paul (Beattie) MacCready (born September 25, 1925 in New Haven , Connecticut , † August 28, 2007 in Pasadena , California ) was an American physicist , engineer and glider pilot . He preferred to devote himself to aviation topics , but his work was not limited to this. He was the founder and chairman of Aerovironment , a company dedicated to developing and optimizing a wide variety of products.
Life
MacCready studied physics at Yale University and Caltech . He also had a PhD in aeronautics .
He was an active glider pilot and won the 1956 world championship in the open class in St. Yan, France.
MacCready is considered an important pioneer of flying with muscle power . On August 23, 1977, a team led by him won the first Kremer Prize with the Gossamer Condor for continuous controlled flight with muscle power .
On June 12, 1979, the Gossamer Albatross crossed the English Channel . On July 7, 1981, the crossing was repeated with the Solar Challenger using solar energy . The route from Paris to London was covered in five hours and 23 minutes with the help of approximately 20 square meters of solar cells for two electric motors.
The Pathfinder planes followed. In 1987 he and his team built the solar racing car Sunraycer and in 1989 the electric racing car GM Impact .
He steered the speed to fly the so-called MacCready ring in, which enables the use of the theory during a gliding without calculations. In 1981 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 2003 MacCready received the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science and the Heinz Award . In 2015 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame .
The asteroid (24643) MacCready was named after him.
Web links
- Eric Malnic: Paul B. MacCready, 81; inventor of human-powered aircraft, other innovations. In: Los Angeles Times, August 30, 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gliding World Champions. (No longer available online.) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , 2008, archived from the original on February 6, 2010 ; Retrieved October 2, 2012 .
- ↑ Kenneth Owen, Alan Yates: World Gliding . British Pilots Win in Two-seater Class at St. Yann. In: Flight and Aircraft Engineer . Volume 70, No. 2478 . Iliffe and Sons Ltd, London July 20, 1956, p. 120–123 (available online: pages 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 and 124 [accessed October 2, 2012]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | MacCready, Paul |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | MacCready, Paul Beattie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American physicist and engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 25, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Haven (Connecticut) , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 28, 2007 |
| Place of death | Pasadena, California , USA |