Earle Buckingham

1887–1978

Prof. Earle Buckingham is one of the founders of the theory of gearing and gear design and made significant contributions to this area. His monographs gained him international recognition in addition to the great respect he had already earned in English-speaking countries. Earle Buckingham was born in 1887 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland from 1904 to 1906 and then began to work in industry. In 1919, he directed his research and science interests to the field of gears, initially as a gear consultant for the Niles-Bement-Pond Company (now Pratt & Whitney) and then from 1925 to 1954 as a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After retirement, he continued his research activity as a gear consultant. Prof. Earle Buckingham’s books (e.g., Analytical Mechanics of Gears, 1963) laid the foundation for the theory of gearing and became references for at least two generations of engineers and researchers. The engineering community recognized his contributions to the design and theory of gears by presenting him these prestigious awards: the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Worcester Reed Warner Medal, 1944; the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) Edward P. Connel Award, 1950; the American Society of Test Engineers (ASTE) Gold Medal, 1957; the Gold Medal of the British Gear Manufacturers Association, 1962; and the Golden Gear Award

3 books in the database