George Cayley

Sir George Cayley, <a href="/facts/Cayley_baronets/Qy0gjuXU">6th Baronet</a> (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857) was an <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> <a href="/facts/Engineer/ph4TnHnG">engineer</a>, <a href="/facts/Inventor/P3LdUHBY">inventor</a>, and <a href="/facts/Aviator/SJaN1UAJ">aviator</a>. He is one of the most important people in the history of <a href="/facts/Aeronautics/yu2YEPv9">aeronautics</a>. Many consider him to be the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of <a href="/facts/Flight/dvWK0PNd">flight</a> and the creator of the <a href="/facts/Wire_wheel/Hv3MY74n">wire wheel</a>.
In 1799, he set forth the concept of the modern aeroplane as a <a href="/facts/Fixed-wing_aircraft/0DQQP2rB">fixed-wing</a> flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.
He was a pioneer of <a href="/facts/Aeronautical_engineering/2Ib02w7f">aeronautical engineering</a> and is sometimes referred to as "the father of aviation." He identified the four forces which act on a heavier-than-air flying vehicle: <a href="/facts/Weight/9NMHCsQd">weight</a>, <a href="/facts/Lift_(force)/ehQKKaWP">lift</a>, <a href="/facts/Drag_(physics)/vdl4jF7I">drag</a> and <a href="/facts/Thrust/EM04CqV7">thrust</a>. Modern aeroplane design is based on those discoveries and on the importance of <a href="/facts/Camber_(aerodynamics)/nCqgfTqd">cambered wings</a>, also proposed by Cayley. He constructed the first flying model aeroplane and also diagrammed the elements of vertical flight.
He also designed the first glider reliably reported to carry a human aloft. He correctly predicted that sustained flight would not occur until a lightweight engine was developed to provide adequate thrust and lift. The <a href="/facts/Wright_brothers/byU6xEkD">Wright brothers</a> acknowledged his importance to the development of aviation.
Cayley represented the <a href="/facts/British_Whig_Party/I34xpgxK">Whig</a> party as <a href="/facts/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)/VegqN6nl">Member of Parliament</a> for <a href="/facts/Scarborough_(UK_Parliament_constituency)/wTQA8fSm">Scarborough</a> from 1832 to 1835, and in 1838, helped found the UK's first Polytechnic Institute, the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now <a href="/facts/University_of_Westminster/8MYBHpNp">University of Westminster</a>) and served as its chairman for many years. He was elected as a Vice-President of the <a href="/facts/Yorkshire_Philosophical_Society/eyF42y3P">Yorkshire Philosophical Society</a> in 1824. He was a founding member of the <a href="/facts/British_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science/q1DLURYh">British Association for the Advancement of Science</a> and was a distant cousin of the <a href="/facts/Mathematician/eaFSR8Fx">mathematician</a> <a href="/facts/Arthur_Cayley/NBd7QkeE">Arthur Cayley</a>.

George Cayley open-in-new

George Cayley