Aeronautical engineer and inventor · 1886–1972
Henri Coandă
His enduring engineering legacy includes the fluid-flow behaviour known as the Coandă effect and devices that apply it.
A life behind the work
Born in Bucharest, Coandă spent part of his childhood in Paris before attending military school in Romania. Engineering studies took him through several European cities and into the first graduating class of Paris’s aeronautical school in 1910. That year he exhibited an experimental aircraft with an unusual propulsion system. He later designed aircraft for Bristol and pursued inventions involving fluid flow, prefabricated buildings and water treatment. His claimed 1910 jet flight remains disputed. Returning to Romania in 1970, he continued working until his final years.