Winnett Boyd

Winnett Boyd (October 17, 1916 – January 30, 2017) was a Canadian engineer who made major contributions to the development of the jet engine and nuclear reactor design.

Boyd's father, Winnett Wornibe Boyd, was stationed in Wales during World War I, where he met Marjorie Sterne St. George, an American. They married, and in 1917 returned to Winnett's home town in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Growing up, Boyd lived in Bobcaygeon, Port Hope, Bermuda and Toronto.

In 1935, Winnett began studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto's School of Practical Science. He graduated with a B.Sc. in 1939 and was offered a staff scholarship by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed one year of graduate studies at MIT as well as a Teaching Assistantship.

Between 1940 and 1943, Boyd worked as an engineer for Demerara Bauxite in British Guiana, and for the Aluminum Company of Canada in Montreal and Shawinigan Falls.

In the fall of 1943, Boyd joined the Royal Canadian Navy, but was soon sent to the National Research Council (NRC). During this time the NRC was in the midst of implementing the suggestions of the Banks Report, which suggested ways of helping with the UK's jet engine development. Among its suggestions was the creation of a cold weather testing station, which the British could not supply as easily as the Canadians, as well as the creation of a local jet engine manufacturer in order to avoid dependence on the UK or US. The NRC sent a number of engineers, including Boyd, to study jet engine design in the United Kingdom over the next year. In the meantime, the government formed Turbo Research as Crown Corporation in Leaside, now part of downtown Toronto. A number of the engineers involved in the creation of the Report worked there, while others created the Cold Weather Testing Station in Winnipeg.

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