Poul la Cour

Poul la Cour was a Danish scientist and inventor who in the 1890s built an experimental wind turbine at Askov, Denmark, and used it to generate hydrogen through electrolysis for gas lighting, systematically studying aerodynamics to improve blade design through wind tunnel testing, among the first people to apply rigorous scientific method to wind turbine design. La Cour founded a school that trained Danish wind electricians, and by the time of his death in 1908 hundreds of Danish farms and villages used wind turbines built to his design principles for local electricity generation, laying the groundwork for Denmarks later prominence in wind power. His research into the relationship between blade shape, rotational speed and power output influenced wind turbine engineering for decades. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern science-based approach to wind turbine design.