Henri Coanda - pioneer of the jet plane

Henri Coanda was born in Bucharest, on the 7th of June, 1886.
 

He studied at "Sf. Sava" college in Bucharest and the Military High School in Iasi then at the Military Artilery School in Bucharest which he graduated in 1905. He studied at the Aeronautical and Mechanical Construction Superior School in Paris but also in Liege and Montefiore.
 

In 1967 he was awarded the title of Honoris Cauza Doctor of the Bucharest Politechnical Institute, he became a member of the Romanian Academy (1970), president of the Institute for Scientific Creation and Technique from Bucharest (1971), member of the English Aeronautical Society.
 

As a young man, he was preoccupied about the aeronautical issues and that is why he achieved along the years a series of inventions and prototypes, both in Romania and abroad. He studied this domain thoroughly. He built several racket experimental models, airplane models, a rocket with solid fuel, he studied the aerodynamic phenomenon around the wings (on an original stand built in co-operation with Gustave Eiffel and Paul Painleve and mounted on an exploitation locomotive); the built the first airplane with two engines in 1911, military airplanes (England, 1911-1914), concrete tanks for fuel, installations for extracting the salt from the sea water, etc. 
 

Henri Coanda is the creator of the first jet aircraft in the world which he tried himself in 1910 at Issy-les-Moulineaux (France). The airplane was exhibited at the Aeronautical International Exhibition from Paris.
He was interested in the phenomenon of deviating a fluid into another, also known as "Coanda effect" (1934). He did a lot of research regarding the fluids mechanics and he published scientific articles in all studied domains. Being the basis for many applications, "Coanda effect" is, doubtless, the birth certificate of the fluids mechanics, a new branch of the technique.
 

33 of his inventions are based on original fundamental research, which gives the Romanian inventor a great scientific authority.
 

Henri Coanda died on 25th of November 1972 in Bucharest and he is buried at Bellu cemetery.