The Scots engineer who pioneered the wind turbine

Key Facts

2 hours ago Kevin Keane,BBC Scotland's environment correspondent Archives and Special Collections/University of Strathclyde Library James Blyth built his turbine at Marykirk in 1887 When James Blyth created what many believe was the world’s first wind turbine in 1887, villagers dismissed it as the "work of the devil".
The huge structure at Blyth’s family home in the Aberdeenshire village of Marykirk was built with four cloth sails and generated enough power to light 10 bulbs along with a small lathe.
University of Dundee James Blyth's first turbine was 33ft tall with four sails Archives and Special Collections/University of Strathclyde Library The larger of these slightly later designs stayed in his garden for almost 20 years James Blyth's family have described him as a "clever man with a curious mind".
James Blyth's great granddaughter says the family is delighted he is being recognised Blyth was a professor of natural philosophy at Anderson's College in Glasgow which later became part of the University of Strathclyde.