RELF

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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2.10.1888 Beckenham/UK - 25.2.1970 Addlestone/UK

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Ernest Frederick Relf graduated in physics from the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, in 1912. He then joined the staff of the National Physical Laboratory NPL in Teddington. In the years after World War I, Leonard Bairstow (1880-1963) was the leader of the aerodynamicists group, followed by Thomas Ernest Stanton (1865-1931) and Richard Southwell (1888-1970) took over, until Relf was appointed superintendent in 1925. He successfully led the staff for the next 20 years during which he added many well known scientists. It has been said that Relf during this period was a constant stimulus to his staff. In 1946 Relf became the first Principal of the College of Aeronautics. In his five years of tenure he firmly laid the foundations of what became later the Cranfield Institute of Technology.

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Relf's first work at NPL was a careful evaluation of the incompressible Bernoulli equation where the pressure difference was measured with a static Pitot tube. A second research project concerned methods of visualization of fluid flow. By using condensed milk and alcohol as a tracer in water flow Relf obtained classic photographs for both laminar and turbulent flows. Many of Relf's early papers concerned aspects of aircraft stability; he was thoroughly conversant with the classical stability theory of Frederick Bryant (1878-1942). The 1914 study made in collaboration with Bryant and his close colleague Arthur Fage (1890-1977) concerned the "fin effect" of propellers, namely the lateral force on a propeller due to yaw. The beautiful experimental technique involving balance design was almost certainly due to Relf. He delivered in 1946 the 34th Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture on Recent developments in aeronautics.

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_{Anonymous (1970). Ernest Frederick Relf. Journal Royal Aeronautical Society 74(5): 388-}

_{389. P}

_{Anonymous (2000). E.F. Relf, CBE, ARC, FRS, FRAeS. Aeronautical Journal 104(12): 582. P}

_{Collar, A.R. (1971). Ernest Frederick Relf. Obituary Notices of FRS 17: 593-616. P}

_{Relf, E.F. (1913). Flow round a model aerofoil. ARC Reports and Memoranda 76. London.}

_{Relf, E.F., Bryant, L.W., Bramwell, F.H., Fage, A. (1914). Experiments on model propellers at the National Physical Laboratory. ARC Reports and Memoranda 123. HMSO London.}

_{Relf, E.F. (1935). Results from the compressed air tunnel. Journal Royal Aeronautical Society}

_{39: 1-30.}

_{Relf, E.F. (1946). Recent aerodynamic developments. Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society 50: 421-449.}