Osborne Reynolds

Reynolds, Osborne, 1842–1912, British mechanical engineer. He was educated at Cambridge and became (1868) the first professor of engineering at the Univ. of Manchester, where his courses attracted a number of outstanding students. He developed the theory of the radiometer and determined by direct measurement the mechanical equivalent of heat. Reynolds made many contributions to theoretical engineering. His work on fluid dynamics includes the introduction of the dimensionless Reynolds number.