Lawrence Hargrave - Career, Honors and memorials

Aeronautical pioneer, born in Greenwich, EC Greater London, UK. He arrived in Sydney in 1865, and spent five years exploring in New Guinea before being appointed to a post at the Sydney Observatory (1878). He resigned five years later to devote his time to aeronautical experiments. In 1893 he developed the box-kite to produce a wing form used in early aircraft, and in 1894 four tethered kites successfully lifted him 5 m from the ground. He also designed a radial rotary engine in 1899, the predecessor of the engine which drove most aircraft in the early days of aviation. His other projects included wave-driven ships and a one-wheel gyroscopic car.

Lawrence Hargrave (29 January 1850 - 6 July 1915) was an engineer, explorer, astronomer, and aeronautical pioneer.

Career

He had been interested in experiments of all kinds from an early age, particularly those to do with flying machines, and when his father died, and Hargrave came into his inheritance, he resigned from the observatory to concentrate on full-time research. He chose to live and experience with his flying machines in Stanwell Park, a place which offers excellent wind and hang conditions and nowadays is the most famous hang gliding and paragliding place in Australia.

In an astonishingly productive career, Hargrave invented many devices, but never once applied for a patent on any of them: he did not need the money, and he was a passionate believer in scientific communication as a key to furthing progress. As he wrote in 1893:

"Workers must root out the idea that by keeping the results of their labors to themselves a fortune will be assured to them.

Among many, three of Hargrave's inventions were particularly significant:

Study of curved aerofoils, particularly designs with a thicker leading edge. Work on the rotary engine, which powered many early aircraft up until about 1920

Of great significance to those pioneers working toward powered flight, Hargrave successfully lifted himself off the ground under a train of four of his box kites at Stanwell Park Beach on 12 November 1894.

His development of a rotary engine was frustrated by the weight of materials and quality of machining available at the time, and he was unable to get sufficient lift from his engines to build an independent flying machine.

Hargrave was devoted to his family, and when his son Geoffrey was killed at Gallipoli in May 1915 he was heartbroken, and died soon after hearing the news.

Honors and memorials

An engraving of Lawrence Hargrave alongside a number of his gliders appeared on the reverse of the Australian $20 banknote from 1966 to 1994. The Lawrence Hargrave Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Sydney University and the Hargrave-Andrew engineering library at Monash University are named in his honour.