Bagnold, Ralph A.

Ralph A. Bagnold, in full Ralph Alger Bagnold, (born April 3, 1896, Devonport, Devonshire, Eng.—died May 28, 1990), English geologist who was a leading authority on the mechanics of sediment transport and on eolian (wind-effect) processes.

Educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, Bagnold served in the army from 1915 to 1935 and from 1939 to 1944, rising to the rank of brigadier. He organized and led numerous desert explorations—particularly of the Libyan Desert—from 1929 to 1938. He researched the processes of sediment transport by wind and water and studied the origins of sand dunes, classifying dunes according to shape and method of growth. He served as a consultant and adviser to private industry, governments, and scientific study organizations. Bagnold’s published works include Libyan Sands (1935), Movement of Desert Sand (1936), Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (1941), Motion of Waves in Shallow Water (1946), and Flow of Cohesionless Grains in Fluids (1956).