René Lorin (24 March 1877 – 16 January 1933) was a French aerospace engineer and inventor of the

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an a ...

. In 1908 Lorin patented the first subsonic ramjet design. He published the principles of a ramjet in articles in the journal ''

L'Aérophile ''L’Aérophile'' ("The Aerophile") was a French aviation magazine published from 1893 to 1947. It has been described as "the leading aeronautical journal of the world" around 1910. History and contents ''L’Aérophile'' was founded and r ...

'' from 1908 to 1913, expressing the idea that the exhaust from internal combustion engines could be directed into nozzles to create jet propulsion. He could not test this invention since there was no way at the time for an aircraft to go fast enough for a ramjet to function properly. When René Leduc applied for a patent on a ramjet design in 1933, he discovered Lorin's publications and tried to contact him, only to learn that he had recently died. Leduc thereafter paid homage to Lorin's work.Ricco, Philippe. "Leduc: the difficult beginning." At Aerostories.free.fr.
/ref> René Lorin is a graduate of the École Centrale Paris.

References

École Centrale Paris alumni 20th-century French inventors 20th-century aviation Jet engine pioneers Ramjet engines 1933 deaths 1877 births {{France-engineer-stub