Torkel Weis-Fogh

Torkel Weis-Fogh (25 March 1922 – 13 November 1975) was a Danish zoologist and Professor at the University of Cambridge and the University of Copenhagen.[1][8][9][10][11][12] He is best known for his contributions to the understanding of insect flight, especially the clap and fling mechanism used by very small insects. James Lighthill named this the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation.[13][14]

Torkel Weis-Fogh
Born(1922-03-25)March 25, 1922
Aarhus, Denmark
Died13 November 1975(1975-11-13) (aged 53)[1]
Cambridge, England
NationalityDanish
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen
Known for
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Doctoral advisorAugust Krogh
Doctoral studentsCharles Ellington[7]

Education

Weis-Fogh was born in Aarhus and educated at University of Copenhagen.

Research and career

Weis-Fogh was research assistant to the Danish Nobel Prize–winning physiologist August Krogh, where he studied the flight mechanism of the desert locust.[15][16][17]

He pioneered studies of insect flight with Krogh in a classic paper of 1951.[18] He then spent a year at the Copenhagen Institute of Neurophysiology.[13]

Weis-Fogh then went to the University of Cambridge in England for four years, where he discovered a rubbery protein, resilin, in insect cuticle.[13][19] He continued working on insect flight.[20][21][22][23][24]

He returned to Copenhagen as Professor of Zoophysiology, but went back to Cambridge in 1966 to become Professor of Zoology there, continuing to investigate mechanisms of cell motility and of flight.[13][25][26][27][28][29]

Insect flight
A snapshot of the flows and forces at work in Weis-Fogh's clap and fling mechanism for insect flight. The fragile wings of a thrips create vortices in the air flow, which generate lift.

In 1973 Weis-Fogh devised a mathematical model explaining how extremely small insects such as the thrips or chalcid wasps like Encarsia formosa could fly using clap-and-fling,[30] where conventional steady state aerodynamics did not apply. These insects gain lift by creating vortices near their wings, at the price of the wear and tear from repeated clapping. The British mathematician Sir James Lighthill named this the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation.[13][14] Weis-Fogh's 1973 paper Quick Estimates of Flight Fitness in Hovering Animals, Including Novel Mechanisms for Lift Production[31] has been cited over 1000 times.[32]

Awards and honours

The Hanne and Torkel Weis-Fogh fund is named in his honour.[33]

References
  1. Treherne, J. E. (1976). "Obituary Torkel Weis-Fogh 1922–1975". Tissue and Cell. 8: i. doi:10.1016/0040-8166(76)90015-X.
  2. Sane, S. P. (2011). "Steady or Unsteady? Uncovering the Aerodynamic Mechanisms of Insect Flight". Journal of Experimental Biology. 214 (3): 349–351. doi:10.1242/jeb.048330. PMID 21228193.
  3. Weis-Fogh, T. (1975). "Unusual Mechanisms for the Generation of Lift in Flying Animals". Scientific American. 233 (5): 80–87. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1175-80.
  4. Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. 8. Lift and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 257–71. PMID 14187298.
  5. Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "The Flight of Locusts". Scientific American. 194 (3): 116–126. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0356-116.
  6. Furber, S. B.; Williams, J. E. F. (1979). "Is the Weis-Fogh principle exploitable in turbomachinery?". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 94 (3): 519. doi:10.1017/S0022112079001166.
  7. Knight, K. (2010). "Charlie Ellington FRS retires". Journal of Experimental Biology. 213 (23): 3943–3944. doi:10.1242/jeb.052407. PMID 21075934.
  8. "Torkel Weis-Fogh: Scientific Papers and Correspondence". archiveshub.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 December 2012.
  9. Weis-Fogh, T.; Jensen, M. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. I. Basic Principles in Insect Flight. A Critical Review". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 415–458. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0007.
  10. Jensen, M.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1962). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. V. Strength and Elasticity of Locust Cuticle". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 245 (721): 137–169. doi:10.1098/rstb.1962.0008.
  11. Torkel Weis-Fogh's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  12. Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. II. Flight Performance of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 459–510. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0008.
  13. "Torkel Weis-Fogh: Scientific Papers and Correspondence". Janus. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  14. Lighthill, M. J. (1973). "On the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 60: 1–17. doi:10.1017/s0022112073000017.
  15. Weis-Fogh, T. (1952). "Fat Combustion and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria Forskal". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. London: Royal Society. 237 (640): 1–36. doi:10.1098/rstb.1952.0011.
  16. Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. IV. Notes on Sensory Mechanisms in Locust Flight". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 239 (667): 553–584. doi:10.1098/rstb.1956.0010.
  17. Weis-Fogh, T. (1949). "An Aerodynamic Sense Organ Stimulating and Regulating Flight in Locusts". Nature. 164 (4177): 873–874. doi:10.1038/164873a0. PMID 15393878.
  18. Krogh, August; Weis-Fogh, Torkel (1951). "The Respiratory Exchange of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca Gregaria) before, During and After Flight". Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists. 28 (3): 344–357.
  19. Andersen, S. O.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Resilin. A Rubberlike Protein in Arthropod Cuticle". Advances in Insect Physiology Volume 2. Advances in Insect Physiology. 2. p. 1. doi:10.1016/S0065-2806(08)60071-5. ISBN 9780120242023.
  20. Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Biology and Physics of Locust Flight. 8. Lift and Metabolic Rate of Flying Locusts". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 257–71. PMID 14187298.
  21. Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Control of basic movements in flying insects". Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology. 18: 343–63. PMID 5838601.
  22. Weis-Fogh, T. (1964). "Diffusion in Insect Wing Muscle, the Most Active Tissue Known". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 41: 229–56. PMID 14187297.
  23. Buchthal, F; Weis-Fogh, T.; Rosen-Falck, P (1957). "Twitch contractions of isolated flight muscle of locusts". Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 39 (2–3): 246–76. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1957.tb01427.x. PMID 13444040.
  24. Buchthal, F; Weis-Fogh, T. (1956). "Contribution of the sarcolemma to the force exerted by resting muscle of insects". Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. 35 (3–4): 345–64. doi:10.1111/j.1748-1716.1955.tb01291.x. PMID 13313192.
  25. Weis-Fogh, T.; Andersen, S. O. (1970). "New Molecular Model for the Long-range Elasticity of Elastin". Nature. 227 (5259): 718–21. doi:10.1038/227718a0. PMID 5432073.
  26. Routledge, L. M.; Amos, W. B.; Gupta, B. L.; Hall, T. A.; Weis-Fogh, T (1975). "Microprobe measurements of calcium binding in the contractile spasmoneme of a vorticellid". Journal of Cell Science. 19 (1): 195–201. PMID 809455.
  27. Weis-Fogh, T. (1975). "Unusual mechanisms for the generation of lift in flying animals". Scientific American. 233 (5): 81–7. PMID 1188343.
  28. Weis-Fogh, T.; Amos, W. B. (1972). "Evidence for a New Mechanism of Cell Motility". Nature. 236 (5345): 301–4. doi:10.1038/236301a0. PMID 4622429.
  29. Moreton, R. B.; Echlin, P.; Gupta, B. L.; Hall, T. A.; Weis-Fogh, T. (1974). "Preparation of Frozen Hydrated Tissue Sections for X-ray Microanalysis in the Scannning Electron Microscope". Nature. 247 (5436): 113–5. doi:10.1038/247113a0. PMID 4587972.
  30. Santhanakrishnan, A.; Robinson, A. K.; Jones, S.; Low, A. A.; Gadi, S.; Hedrick, T. L.; Miller, L. A. (2014). "Clap and fling mechanism with interacting porous wings in tiny insect flight". Journal of Experimental Biology. 217 (21): 3898–3909. doi:10.1242/jeb.084897. ISSN 0022-0949.
  31. Weis-Fogh, T. (1973). "Quick estimates of flight fitness in hovering animals, including novel mechanisms for lift production". Journal of Experimental Biology. 59: 169–230.
  32. "Quick estimates of flight fitness in hovering animals, including novel mechanisms for lift production". Google Scholar. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  33. "Hanne and Torkel Weis-Fogh Fund". University of Cambridge Department of Zoology. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
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