David Gordon Wilson

{{Short description|UK-American engineer (1928–2019)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}

{{other people|David Wilson}}

File:David Gordon Wilson.jpg

David Gordon Wilson (11 February 1928 – 2 May 2019){{cite web

| url = https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/05/07/david-gordon-wilson-mit-professor-and-father-modern-day-recumbent-bicycles-dies/mJMiTTVyZEk67JykP8sq6I/story.html

| title = David Gordon Wilson, MIT professor and father of modern recumbent bicycles, dies at 91

| author = Bryan Marquard

| date = May 7, 2019

| publisher = Boston Globe

| access-date = May 8, 2019}} was a British-born engineer who served as a professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.{{cite web | url = http://meche.mit.edu/people/index.html?id=98 | title = MIT MechE - David Gordon Wilson | access-date = 5 September 2010 }}

Born in Warwickshire, England, Wilson went to the US on a post-doctoral fellowship in 1955. He returned to Britain in 1957 to work in the gas-turbine industry. He taught engineering in Nigeria from 1958 to 1960. He started a branch of a US company in London and in 1961 was moved to the US. In 1966 he joined the MIT faculty and taught engineering design, wrote two textbooks on his specialty gas-turbine design with co-authors and also pursued a long-standing interest into human-powered transport, coauthoring Bicycling Science. He is credited, along with Chester Kyle, with starting the modern recumbent bicycle movement in the US. Wilson was a board member of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association from 1977 through 1993, its president in 1984, and was editor and frequent author of its journal [http://ihpva.org/hparchive.htm Human Power] from 1984 through 2001.{{cite web

| url = http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/misc/eliasohn/dgwilson/David_Gordon_Wilson.htm

| title = Remembering David Gordon Wilson

| author = Michael Eliasohn

| publisher = recumbents.com

| access-date = March 27, 2024}}

In 1980, Wilson and Richard Forrestall developed a recumbent bicycle, the Avatar 2000. In 1982, Tim Gartside (Australia) rode a fully faired version as the Avatar Bluebell (UK) in a US event to a world record of 51.9 mph for 200 metres with a flying start.{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|last2=Forrestall|last3=Henden|title=Evolution of Recumbent Bicycles and the Design of the Avatar Bluebell|date=1984|url=http://papers.sae.org/840021|access-date=22 January 2017|journal=SAE International Congress and Exposition Technical Paper 840021|series=SAE Technical Paper Series |volume=1 |doi=10.4271/840021 |url-access=subscription}}

Wilson held more than 60 patents; in 1982, he told the Boston Globe, "It’s a bit of a pain that all I’m known for is the bike. I’m very keen on some of the other things I do." He was also active in environmental causes, proposing a forerunner to the carbon tax in 1973, and leading a group that called for a smoking ban in public places.{{cite news|last1=Berdik|first1=Chris|title=The unsung inventor of the carbon tax|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/08/09/the-unsung-inventor-carbon-tax/f1xFyWmaXf2XzW3nVxrNJK/story.html|access-date=11 August 2014|work=The Boston Globe|date=10 August 2014}}

In 2001, Wilson and Bruce co-founded Wilson TurboPower to commercialise two energy technologies developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—the Wilson Heat Exchanger, for which the company received $500,000 in funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in 2008,{{Cite web|url=https://xconomy.com/boston/2008/05/20/wilson-turbopower-boosted-by-500k/|title=Xconomy: Wilson TurboPower Boosted by 500K|last=Buderi|first=Robert|date=2008-05-20|website=Xconomy|language=en|access-date=2019-05-18}} and the Wilson Microturbine, which was described as a "high-performance 300 kW microturbine [that] will dramatically improve energy economics by producing over 50% electrical efficiency."{{cite web|title=Wilson TurboPower, Inc. (copy @ Wayback Machine)|url=http://www.wilsonturbopower.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101011757/http://www.wilsonturbopower.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 January 2007|access-date=18 September 2014}} In 2010, the company changed its name and its focus, becoming the Wilson Solarpower Corporation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=26993089|title=Wilson Solarpower Corporation: Private Company Information - Bloomberg|website=www.bloomberg.com|access-date=2019-05-18}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass-high-tech/2010/07/wilson-turbopower-changes-name-appoints.html|title=Wilson TurboPower changes name, appoints law vet as CEO|last=Alspach|first=Kyle|date=July 15, 2010|website=Boston Business Journal|access-date=2019-05-18}}

Wilson lived in Winchester, Massachusetts with his second wife, Ellen.