C. N. H. Lock

Christopher Noel Hunter Lock (21 December 1894 – 27 March 1949) was a British aerodynamicist, after whom the Lock number is named.[1][2]

Biography

Lock was born at Herschel House, Cambridge, the youngest son of John Bascombe Lock (18 March 1849 – 8 September 1921) who was bursar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,[3] and Emily née Baily.[4] His brother was Robert Heath Lock. Lock was a Scholar at Charterhouse School, and in 1912 was awarded a Major Scholarship at Gonville and Caius College,[5] where he was the only b* wrangler of 1917.[6] He took his BA in 1917, won a Smith's Prize in 1919, and became a fellow of Caius College in 1920.[4][5]

He was a member of the Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section, and in 1920 moved to the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington,[5] to work on the dynamics of shells.[6][7] He conducted wide-ranging experiments, including on autogyros, and became an authority on airscrews.[5] From 1939 until his death, he ran the Aerodynamics Division's High Speed Research Group.[5][8] He developed the pitot-traverse method for measuring profile drag, and investigated the effect of sweepback at high Mach numbers.[5]

He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Physical Society.[9] He was a member of various committees of the Aeronautical Research Council.[5]

Personal life

Lock married Lilian Mary née Gillman (1886/7–7 Oct 1966, aged 79) on 26 April 1924, at St Leonard's Church, Streatham.[10] They had two sons, Robert Christopher (Robin) Lock (14 Aug 1925–19 March 1992) and John Michael Lock (25 Oct 1926–2 March 2002),[4] who were both research students at Gonville & Caius.[5]

References

  1. ^ Prouty, Raymond W. (2009). Helicopter aerodynamics. Lebanon, Ohio: Eagle Eye Solutions. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-557-09044-0.
  2. ^ Johnson, Wayne (1994). Helicopter theory. New York: Dover Publications. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-486-13182-5.
  3. ^ Venn, John (15 September 2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-03614-6. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Beamish, David (8 April 2004). "The Lock family of Dorchester, Dorset, Version 3.04" (PDF). Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Fage, A (December 1949). "Obituary Notices: C. N. H. Lock". Proceedings of the Physical Society, Section A. 62 (12): 831–832. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b Aubin, David; Goldstein, Catherine (7 October 2014). The War of Guns and Mathematics: Mathematical Practices and Communities in France and Its Western Allies around World War I. American Mathematical Society. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-4704-1469-6. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Herbert William Richmond, 1863-1948". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 6 (17): 219–230. November 1948. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1948.0027. ISSN 1479-571X. S2CID 162385944. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  8. ^ Young, A. D.; Pankhurst, R. C.; Schultz, D. L. (1978). "Douglas William Holder. 14 April 1923-18 April 1977". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 24: 223–244. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1978.0008. ISSN 0080-4606. JSTOR 769761. S2CID 72595623. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  9. ^ David, Thomas Rhodri Vivian. British Scientists and Soldiers in the First World War (with special reference to ballistics and chemical warfare) (PDF). Imperial College London. p. 338. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  10. ^ Beamish, David (9 April 2004). "Transcript of Lock entries from the digital archive of The Times prior to 1985" (PDF). Retrieved 3 May 2022.