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Charles Porter Ellington (born 1952) FRS was a British zoologist, emeritus Fellow Downing College, Cambridge, and professor emeritus at University of Cambridge.

Education

Ellington was educated at Duke University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973. He moved to Cambridge where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1979 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1982.

Research

Ellington did research on animal mechanics.

Awards and honours

Ellington was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1998. His nomination reads

Charles Ellington is responsible for much of our understanding of insect flight. His early analysis of the kinematics and aerodynamics of hovering showed that the flight of most insects cannot be explained by conventional (quasi-steady) aerodynamics. This made use of an entirely new theoretical framework, a vortex theory of insect flight. Next, he combined aerodynamic analysis with physiological measurements to show that in flight, insect wing muscles work with remarkably low efficiencies. To do this, he had to solve the formidable technical problem of measuring the oxygen consumption of a single bumblebee, in free flight over a range of speeds. Most recently, he has visualised the flow of air around the wings of moths and of a greatly enlarged model that mimics insect wing motion. This has led to the unexpected discovery of a spanwise stabilising flow, explaining the unsteady effect that makes insect flight possible. His achievements have been made possible by an exceptional combination of theoretical insight and technical ingenuity.

References

1. ^ Knight, K. (2010). "Charlie Ellington FRS retires". Journal of Experimental Biology. 213 (23): 3943–4. doi:10.1242/jeb.052407. PMID 21075934.
2. ^ Anon (2014) "Ellington, Prof. Charles Porter". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Wootton, Robin (2021). "Charles Porter Ellington. 31 December 1952—30 July 2019". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 70: 151–173. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2020.0041. S2CID 232162173.
4. "FELLOWS OF THE COLLEGES - Cambridge University Reporter Special No 2 (2011-12)".
5. "Zoology: Ellington". Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
6. Ellington, Charles Porter (1982). The aerodynamics of hovering animal flight. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 53557374. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.255296.
7. Ellington, C. P.; Van Den Berg, C.; Willmott, A. P.; Thomas, A. L. R. (1996). "Leading-edge vortices in insect flight". Nature. 384 (6610): 626–630. Bibcode:1996Natur.384..626E. doi:10.1038/384626a0. S2CID 4358428.
8. Van Den Berg, C.; Ellington, C. P. (1997). "The three-dimensional leading-edge vortex of a 'hovering' model hawkmoth". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 352 (1351). Royal Society: 329–340. doi:10.1098/rstb.1997.0024. PMC 1691933.
9. Willmott, A. P.; Ellington, C. P. (1997). "The mechanics of flight in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. I. Kinematics of hovering and forward flight". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 200 (Pt 21): 2705–22. doi:10.1242/jeb.200.21.2705. PMID 9418029.
10. Van Den Berg, C.; Ellington, C. P. (1997). "The vortex wake of a 'hovering' model hawkmoth". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 352 (1351): 317–328. doi:10.1098/rstb.1997.0023. PMC 1691928.
11. Charles Ellington's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
12. Elimelech, Y.; Ellington, C. P. (2012). "Analysis of the transitional flow field over a fixed hummingbird wing". Journal of Experimental Biology. 216 (2): 303–318. doi:10.1242/jeb.075341. PMID 22996450.
13. "EC/1998/15 Ellington, Charles Porter. Library and Archive Catalogue". London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014.

• British zoologists
• Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge
• Fellows of the Royal Society
• Living people
• 1952 births