Lafayette College William Frederick Durand (March 5, 1859 – August 9, 1958) was a United States naval officer and pioneer mechanical engineer.

A memorial there reads: "His first professional assignment in 1880 was on the USS Tennessee, a full rigged wooden ship with auxiliary steam power.

During high school Durand showed an aptitude in mathematics; he took extra curricular studies from the principal in analytic geometry and worked as a surveyor's assistant.

[2] To further prepare for the Navy Academy entrance exams, Durand attended a summer course at the Maryland Agricultural College taught by a retired American Civil War naval veteran.

Travelling to Maryland for the classes, Durand stopped at the Centennial Exposition where the Corliss steam engine made a lifelong impression.

Durand graduated in 1880 from the academy with the rank of cadet engineer and was assigned to USS Tennessee, flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron.

In November 1885 Durand received a telegram ordering him to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to participate in sea trials of USS Dolphin.

Dolphin was outfitted at Newport, Rhode Island, and in late November the ship sailed for Cape Hatteras, where a storm of strong wind and heavy seas was known to be.

[2] On October 25, 1903, Robert Thurston died and Durand became acting Director of Sibley College while Cornell searched for a permanent replacement.

Durand was appointed to a Board of Engineers tasked with clearing the ruins and making temporary repairs allowing the university to reopen in the fall.

[2] In 1914 Durand attended a conference convened by Charles Doolittle Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of stimulating interest in aeronautic science, and its relation to the U. S. government.

The United States concentrated on developing training, reconnaissance, and bomber airplanes while relying on the British and French for fighters.

Remembering a graduate student named Sanford A. Moss who worked on gas driven turbo engines twenty years earlier at Cornell before starting a career at the gas turbine division of General Electric, Durand wrote to the president of GE, Mr. E. W. Rice requesting Dr. Moss' services.

[2] In December 1917 Durand, accompanied by his chief assistant Karl T. Compton and two others, traveled to Paris maintain continuous and close contact with developments in the applications of science in warfare.

Upon arriving Durand was given the title Scientific Attaché to the U. S. Embassy, though he worked independently of Ambassador William Graves Sharp.

[2] In June 1918 Durand traveled from Paris to London to give the annual Wilbur & Orville Wright Named Lecture of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Before an audience of 2000 people Durand give a lecture addressing the problems of aircraft design, construction and operation as factors in a war effort.

[2] On September 10, 1924 Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover asked Durand to become a member of the Board of Visitors of the Bureau of Standards.

[2] In spring of 1925 Durand was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to the Board of Visitors of the United States Naval Academy.

The board was tasked to study aeronautics in relation to national defense and advise the president on policy to develop aircraft in time of war.

After weeks of meetings receiving expert testimony and conferring the board submitted a report to the President recommending a near term development plan for military and naval aircraft.

Durand's wind tunnel model showed similar efficiency to Leslie's measurements, but lagged by 6% to 10% in thrust developed and power absorbed.

The board was tasked to survey the Colorado River to find solutions to annual flooding, silting, the development of hydroelectric power, and water usage for irrigation and by cities such as Los Angeles, California.

[16] Science Advisory Board Chairman Karl T. Compton appointed a Special Committee on Airships at the request of Secretary of the Navy Claude Swanson.

Members of the committee were Robert A. Millikan and Theodore von Kármán of Caltech, William Hovgaard of M.I.T., Durand and Stephen Timoshenko of Stanford, Frank B. Jewett of Bell Telephone Laboratories, and Charles F. Kettering of General Motors.

[17] Upon request of the United States Department of the Navy, the National Academy of Sciences established a committee chaired by Durand to investigate anti-rolling devices on ships.

Very promising results were beginning to appear when the outbreak of the Second World War interrupted further development as the Hamilton was called to active duty and the 5 ton model was put into storage.

[2][18] In March 1941 Chairman of the NACA Vannevar Bush asked the then 82-year-old Durand to head a committee to study and develop jet propulsion for aircraft.

The committee agreed early that the three companies would work separately developing jet engines to promote diversity in design.

[2] Chief of the Air Corp Henry H. Arnold obtained a Whittle jet engine from England which was turned over to the gas turbine division of GE in Lynn, Massachusetts, for test and copy.