Frederick W. Lanchester
| Frederick W. Lanchester | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
23 October 1868 Lewisham, London |
| Died | 8 March 1946 (aged 77) Birmingham |
| Nationality | English |
| Engineering career | |
| Significant advance | |
| Awards | |
Frederick William Lanchester LLD, Hon FRAeS, FRS (23 October 1868 – 8 March 1946), an English polymath and engineer, made important contributions to automotive engineering and to aerodynamics, and co-invented the topic of operations research.
Lanchester became a pioneer British motor-car builder, a hobby which resulted in his developing a successful car company, and is considered one of the "big three" English car engineers - alongside Harry Ricardo and Henry Royce.
Lanchester was born in Lewisham, London to Henry Jones Lanchester (1834–1914), an architect, and his wife Octavia (1834-1916), a tutor of Latin and mathematics. He was the fourth of eight children; his older brother Henry Vaughan Lanchester also became an architect; his younger sister Edith Lanchester was a socialist and suffragette; and his brothers George Herbert Lanchester and Frank joined him in forming the Lanchester Motor Company.
When he was a year old, his father relocated the family to Brighton, and young Frederick attended a preparatory school and a nearby boarding school, where he did not distinguish himself. He himself, thinking back, remarked that, "it seemed that Nature was conserving his energy". However, he did succeed in winning a scholarship to the Hartley Institution, in Southampton, and after three years won another scholarship, to Kensington College, which is now part of Imperial College. He supplemented his instruction in applied engineering by attending evening classes at Finsbury Technical School. Unfortunately, he ended his education without having obtained a formal qualification.
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