C. N. H. Lock

Christopher Noel Hunter Lock (21 December 1894 – 27 March 1949) was a British aerodynamicist, after whom the Lock number is named.^[1][2]

Biography

Lock was born at Herschel House, Cambridge, the youngest son of John Bascombe Lock (18 March 1849 – 8 September 1921) who was bursar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,^[3] and Emily née Baily.^[4] His brother was Robert Heath Lock. Lock was a Scholar at Charterhouse School, and in 1912 was awarded a Major Scholarship at Gonville and Caius College,^[5] where he was the only b* wrangler of 1917.^[6] He took his BA in 1917, won a Smith's Prize in 1919, and became a fellow of Caius College in 1920.^[4][5]

He was a member of the Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section, and in 1920 moved to the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington,^[5] to work on the dynamics of shells.^[6][7] He conducted wide-ranging experiments, including on autogyros, and became an authority on airscrews.^[5] From 1939 until his death, he ran the Aerodynamics Division's High Speed Research Group.^[5][8] He developed the pitot-traverse method for measuring profile drag, and investigated the effect of sweepback at high Mach numbers.^[5]

He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Physical Society.^[9] He was a member of various committees of the Aeronautical Research Council.^[5]

Personal life

Lock married Lilian Mary née Gillman (1886/7–7 Oct 1966, aged 79) on 26 April 1924, at St Leonard's Church, Streatham.^[10] They had two sons, Robert Christopher (Robin) Lock (14 Aug 1925–19 March 1992) and John Michael Lock (25 Oct 1926–2 March 2002),^[4] who were both research students at Gonville & Caius.^[5]