Henri Coand 7 June 1886 25 November 1972

Henri Coandă (7 June 1886 – 25 November 1972) Henri Marie Coandă was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft. Born in Bucharest, Coandă was the second child of a large family. His father was General Constantin Coandă, a mathematics professor at the National School of Bridges and Roads. His mother, Aida Danet, was the daughter of French physician Gustave Danet. Coandă attended Elementary school at the Petrache Poenaru Communal School in Bucharest, then (1896) began his secondary school career at the Liceu Sf. Sava (Saint Sava National College). After three years (1899), his father, who desired a military career for him, had him transferred to the Military High School in Iaşi where he required four additional years to complete high-school. He graduated in 1903 with the rank of sergeant major, and he continued his studies at the School of Artillery, Military, and Naval Engineering in Bucharest. Sent with an artillery regiment to Germany (1904), he enrolled in the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg, Berlin.

In 1910, in the workshop of Gianni Caproni, he designed and built an aircraft known as the Coandă-1910, which he displayed publicly at the second International Aeronautic Salon in Paris that year.

• In the years between the wars, he continued travelling and inventing. In 1934 he was granted a French patent related to the Coandă Effect. During early 1930 he used the same principle as the basis for the design of a disc-shaped aircraft called Aerodina Lenticulară (lens-shaped aerodyne), a "flying saucer" shaped aircraft that used an unspecified source of high-pressure gases to flow through a ring-shaped vent system. In 1936 Coandă applied for a patent for his design. No practical full-scale version was built.

The most famous of Coandă's discoveries is the Coandă Effect. After more than 20 years studying this phenomenon along with his colleagues, Coandă described what Albert Metral was later to name the "Coandă Effect". This effect has been utilized in many aeronautical inventions.

Honours and awards - 1965: At the International Automation Symposium in New York, Coandă received the Harry Diamond Laboratories Award. - He received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1971 - Bucharest's Henri Coandă International Airport is named after him. Award and Grand Gold Medal "Vielles Tiges". - UNESCO Award for Scientific Research - The Medal of French Aeronautics, Order of Merit, and Commander ring Henri Coandă is considered the pioneer of the jet and one of the most renowned Romanian scientists.