William Joseph Stern

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William Joseph Stern OBE, ARCS, BSc, DIC (1891–1965) was a physicist who worked closely with the early development of the jet engine.

In 1920, Stern reported to the Royal Air Force that there was no future for the turbine engine in aircraft. He based his argument on the extremely low efficiency of existing compressor designs. Stern's paper proved to be so convincing there ceased to be any official interest in gas turbine engines in Britain for several years.^[1]