Geoffrey Nathaniel Pyke (1893–1948) was a British inventor whose generally unorthodox ideas were often very difficult to implement. In lifestyle and appearance, he fit the common stereotype of a "mad scientist." Jump to: navigation, search 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. ... They LAUGHED at my theories at the institute! Fools! Ill destroy them all! A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, either villainous, or benign and scatterbrained. ...

His most famous proposal was to build giant aircraft carriers from pykrete, a substance produced by freezing a mixture of water and wood pulp during World War II. This endeavour, known as Project Habbakuk, was investigated by Combined Operations and had the personal backing of Lord Louis Mountbatten and Sir Winston Churchill, but never reached completion. Jump to: navigation, search An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... A block of Pykrete Pykrete is a composite material made of approximately 14% sawdust (or, less frequently, wood pulp) and 86% ice by weight, invented by Max Perutz and proposed during World War II by Geoffrey Pyke to the Royal Navy as a candidate material for making a huge, unsinkable... Jump to: navigation, search Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ... Wood pulp is the most common material used to make paper. ... Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Jump to: navigation, search Project Habbakuk was a plan by the British in World War II to construct an unsinkable aircraft carrier out of ice, for use against German U-boats in the mid- Atlantic, which was out of range of land-based planes. ... Combined Operations was a department of the British War Office set up during World War II to harass the Germans on the European continent by means of raids carried out by use of combined naval and army forces. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ...

On a winter evening in 1948, Pyke shaved his beard and consumed a bottleful of sleeping pills; his landlady found his corpse the following morning. Jump to: navigation, search In many parts of the world, winter is associated with snow. ... Informally, the evening refers to the period in which the daylight is decreasing, between the late afternoon and night; it extends from the latter portion of the daylight (before sunset) until dark (after sunset). ... A man with a full beard A beard is the hair that grows on a mans chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip (the opposite is a clean-shaven face). ... A sedative is a drug that depresses the central nervous system (CNS), which causes calmness, relaxation, reduction of anxiety, sleepiness, slowed breathing, slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes. ... A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or land which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called the tenant. ...

See also

• Magnus Pyke,(first cousin)

Dr. Magnus Pyke (born in London, England on 29 December 1908; died in London on 19 October 1992) was a British scientist and media figure, who, although apparently quite eccentric, made an effort to explain science to a lay audience. ...

Sources

• Michell, John. "The Inventor of Frozen Battleships." Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions. Harcourt, 1984. ISBN 0151273588
  • Reprint: Citadel Press, 1987. ISBN 0806510315
  • Reprint: Cardinal Books, 1989. ISBN 0747403538
  • Reprint: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999. ISBN 0932813674
  • Reprint: New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2003. ISBN 1-57912-228-0
• Timpson, John. Timpson's English Eccentrics. London: Jarrold, 1991, hardback. ISBN 0-7117-0559-3
  • Reprint: London: Jarrold, 1996, paperback. ISBN 0-7117-0683-2
• Lampe, David. Pyke, the Unknown Genius. London: Evans Bros, 1959. No ISBN
• Pickover, Clifford. A. Strange Brains and Genius : The Secret Lives Of Eccentric Scientists And Madmen. Harper Perennial, 1999. ISBN 0688168949
• Pyke, Geoffrey. To Ruhleben -- And Back. McSweeney's, 2003. ISBN 0971904782.

Jump to: navigation, search This page is about the year 1984. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1999(MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1999(MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Brief biography and list of inventions
• The Floating Island - Habbakuk project
• Pykrete
• Experiments with Pykrete