Sigurd Johannes Savonius

Sigurd Johannes Savonius (2 November 1884 – 31 May 1931) was a Finnish architect and inventor. He is known especially for the Savonius wind turbine, which he invented in 1924.

Savonius was born in Hämeenlinna, Finland, to Albin Laurentius Johannes Savonius (1856–1906) and his wife Anna Elisabeth née Rydman (1859–1921). He was one of three sons, together with his brothers Maximilian Lars Helge and Odert Albin.

As a young man he enjoyed experimenting with explosives. One such experiment, an attempt to mix red phosphorus with a knife and fork, cost him two fingers and the sight in his right eye.

Savonius graduated from secondary school in Helsinki in 1901. Although he had originally planned to become an engineer, he decided to study architecture and graduated in 1906 with a degree in architecture from Helsinki Polytechnic. Nevertheless, he usually referred to himself as an engineer and occupied himself mainly with technical projects.

He met his future wife, the Englishwoman Mary Appleyard (born 1884), through his brothers, who were students in her English class. He and his wife had seven children: four daughters (Moira Angela Hjördis (born 1914), Ann-Mari, Mary Henrietta and Gustava Elisabeth) and three sons (Klas Albin, Mark Adrian Briggs and Johannes Anthony (born 1916), who died in hospital on 8 March 1940 from wounds sustained in the Winter War).

The family's house was in the town of Inkoo in Southern Finland, which Savonius designed himself.

On 8 October 1920 Savonius founded Savonius & Company, with his wife as a shareholder.

Seven years after graduating from the polytechnic, he registered his first patent, for a snow melting device to produce drinking water from snow, and in 1920 he patented an optimized version of the device. In 1921, he patented a cooking device for rock fireplaces. In the early 1920s, Savonius concentrated especially on the control of air flows and the use of wind power. In 1923, his attention was attracted by a rotor ship built by the German engineer Anton Flettner. The ship was propelled by two large cylindrical rotorsails, which stood as tall as masts and were rotated by an engine. The idea was to take advantage of the Magnus effect: the perpendicular force exerted on the enclosed cylinders as they spun at greater than wind speed. Savonius wondered whether the ship could be driven by a rotor apparatus operating by wind power alone, without the aid of an engine.

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