James Dyson

Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and business magnate who founded Dyson. He is best known as the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, he is the fifth richest person in the UK, with an estimated net worth of £23 billion. He served as the Provost of the Royal College of Art from August 2011 to July 2017, and opened a new university, the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, on Dyson's Wiltshire campus in September 2017. Early life and education James Dyson was born 2 May 1947 in Cromer, Norfolk, one of the three children of Janet M. (née Bolton) and Alec William Dyson. He was named after his grandfather, James Dyson. He was educated at Gresham's School, an independent boarding school in Holt, Norfolk, from 1956 to 1965, when his father died of prostate cancer. He excelled at long-distance running: "I was quite good at it, not because I was physically good, but because I had more determination. I learnt determination from it." He spent one year (1965–1966) at the Byam Shaw School of Art, and then studied furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art (1966–1970) before moving into engineering. It was while attending the Royal College of Art to study fine art that Dyson made the switch to industrial design, due in part to the tutorage of the structural engineer Anthony Hunt.