Torkel Weis-Fogh

Torkel Weis-Fogh
Born 25 March 1922
Aarhus, Denmark
Died 13 November 1975(1975-11-13) (aged 53) [1]
Cambridge, England
Residence England
Nationality Danish
Fields
Institutions
Alma mater University of Copenhagen
Doctoral students Charles Ellington[2]
Known for
Influences August Krogh

Torkel Weis-Fogh (25 March 1922 – 13 November 1975) was a Danish zoologist and Professor at the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen.[1][8][9][10][11][12] He is best known for his contributions to the understanding of insect flight, especially the fling and clap mechanism used by very small insects.

Education

Weis-Fogh was born in Aarhus and educated at University of Copenhagen.

Research

Weis-Fogh was research assistant to the Danish Nobel Prize–winning physiologist August Krogh, where he studied the flight mechanism of the desert locust.[13][14][15]

He pioneered studies of insect flight with Krogh in a classic paper of 1951.[16]

He then spent a year at the Copenhagen Institute of Neurophysiology.[17]

He then went to the University of Cambridge in England for four years, where he discovered a rubbery protein, resilin, in insect cuticle.[17][18] He continued working on insect flight.[19][20][21][22][23]

He returned to Copenhagen as Professor of Zoophysiology, and then went back to Cambridge in 1966 to become Professor of Zoology there.[17][24][25][25][26][27][28] In 1973 he devised a mathematical model explaining how extremely small insects such as the thrips or chalcid wasps like Encarsia formosa could fly using clap-and-fling,[lower-alpha 1] where conventional steady state aerodynamics did not apply. The British applied mathematician Sir James Lighthill named this mechanism the "Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation".[17][29] His 1973 paper "Quick Estimates of Flight Fitness in Hovering Animals, Including Novel Mechanisms for Lift Production" has been cited at least 75 times.[30]

Awards and honours

The Hanne and Torkel Weis-Fogh fund is named in his honour.[31]

Notes

  1. ↑ See for example Clap and fling mechanism with interacting porous wings in tiny insects by Santhanakrishnan et al, 2014.

References

  1. 1 2 Treherne, J. E. (1976). "Obituary Torkel Weis-Fogh 1922–1975". Tissue and Cell. 8: i. doi:10.1016/0040-8166(76)90015-X.
  2. ↑ Knight, K. (2010). "Charlie Ellington FRS retires". Journal of Experimental Biology. 213 (23): 3943–3944. doi:10.1242/jeb.052407. PMID 21075934.
  3. ↑ Sane, S. P. (2011). "Steady or Unsteady? Uncovering the Aerodynamic Mechanisms of Insect Flight". Journal of Experimental Biology. 214 (3): 349–351. doi:10.1242/jeb.048330. PMID 21228193.
  4. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1975). "Unusual Mechanisms for the Generation of Lift in Flying Animals". Scientific American. 233 (5): 80–87. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1175-80.
  5. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. 8. Lift and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 257–71. PMID 14187298.
  6. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "The Flight of Locusts". Scientific American. 194 (3): 116–126. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0356-116.
  7. ↑ Furber, S. B.; Williams, J. E. F. (1979). "Is the Weis-Fogh principle exploitable in turbomachinery?". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 94 (3): 519. doi:10.1017/S0022112079001166.
  8. ↑ Torkel Weis-Fogh: Scientific Papers and Correspondence
  9. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T.; Jensen, M. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. I. Basic Principles in Insect Flight. A Critical Review". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 415–458. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0007.
  10. ↑ Jensen, M.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1962). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. V. Strength and Elasticity of Locust Cuticle". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 245 (721): 137–169. doi:10.1098/rstb.1962.0008.
  11. ↑ Torkel Weis-Fogh's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database, a service provided by Elsevier. (subscription required)
  12. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. II. Flight Performance of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 459–510. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0008.
  13. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1952). "Fat Combustion and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria Forskal". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 237 (640): 1–36. doi:10.1098/rstb.1952.0011.
  14. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. IV. Notes on Sensory Mechanisms in Locust Flight". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 553–584. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0010.
  15. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1949). "An Aerodynamic Sense Organ Stimulating and Regulating Flight in Locusts". Nature. 164 (4177): 873–874. doi:10.1038/164873a0. PMID 15393878.
  16. ↑ Krogh, August; Weis-Fogh, Torkel (1951). "The Respiratory Exchange of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca Gregaria) before, During and After Flight". Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists. 28 (3): 344–357.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Torkel Weis-Fogh: Scientific Papers and Correspondence". Janus. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  18. ↑ Andersen, S. O.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Resilin. A Rubberlike Protein in Arthropod Cuticle". Advances in Insect Physiology Volume 2. Advances in Insect Physiology. 2. p. 1. doi:10.1016/S0065-2806(08)60071-5. ISBN 9780120242023.
  19. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. 8. Lift and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 257–71. PMID 14187298.
  20. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Control of basic movements in flying insects". Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology. 18: 343–63. PMID 5838601.
  21. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Diffusion in Insect Wing Muscle, the Most Active Tissue Known". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 229–56. PMID 14187297.
  22. ↑ Buchthal, F; Weis-Fogh, T.; Rosen-Falck, P (1957). "Twitch contractions of isolated flight muscle of locusts". Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 39 (2–3): 246–76. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1957.tb01427.x. PMID 13444040.
  23. ↑ Buchthal, F; Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Contribution of the sarcolemma to the force exerted by resting muscle of insects". Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 35 (3–4): 345–64. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1955.tb01291.x. PMID 13313192.
  24. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T.; Andersen, S. O. (1970). "New Molecular Model for the Long-range Elasticity of Elastin". Nature. 227 (5259): 718–21. doi:10.1038/227718a0. PMID 5432073.
  25. 1 2 Routledge, L. M.; Amos, W. B.; Gupta, B. L.; Hall, T. A.; Weis-Fogh, T (1975). "Microprobe measurements of calcium binding in the contractile spasmoneme of a vorticellid". Journal of Cell Science. 19 (1): 195–201. PMID 809455.
  26. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1975). "Unusual mechanisms for the generation of lift in flying animals". Scientific American. 233 (5): 81–7. PMID 1188343.
  27. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T.; Amos, W. B. (1972). "Evidence for a New Mechanism of Cell Motility". Nature. 236 (5345): 301–4. doi:10.1038/236301a0. PMID 4622429.
  28. ↑ Moreton, R. B.; Echlin, P.; Gupta, B. L.; Hall, T. A.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1974). "Preparation of Frozen Hydrated Tissue Sections for X-ray Microanalysis in the Scannning Electron Microscope". Nature. 247 (5436): 113–5. doi:10.1038/247113a0. PMID 4587972.
  29. ↑ Lighthill, M. J. (1973). "On the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 60: 1–17. doi:10.1017/s0022112073000017.
  30. ↑ Weis-Fogh, T. (1973). "Quick estimates of flight fitness in hovering animals, including novel mechanisms for lift production". Journal of Experimental Biology. 59: 169–230.
  31. ↑ "Hanne and Torkel Weis-Fogh Fund". University of Cambridge Department of Zoology. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.