James Dyson
Sir James Dyson is an English inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and business magnate who founded the Dyson company. He is best known as the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, he was the fifth-richest person in the United Kingdom, with an estimated family net worth of £23 billion. As of March 2025, Forbes lists Dyson's net worth as $13.3 billion.
Dyson 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 on 2 May 1947 in Cromer, Norfolk, one of three children of Janet M. and Alec William Dyson. He was named after his grandfather, James Dyson. His father died of prostate cancer when he was nine years old and he described his childhood home as 'penniless' after his father's death. He was nonetheless educated at Gresham's School, an independent boarding school in Holt, Norfolk, from 1956 to 1965, due to the headmaster agreeing to pay his school fees. At school he excelled at long-distance running, and said he learned determination from it.Dyson spent a year, 1965–1966, at the Byam Shaw School of Art, choosing the school because of its excellent reputation under principal Maurice de Sausmarez's leadership. Dyson credits de Sausmarez's guidance and teaching with inspiring him to become a designer. In 2015 Dyson spoke at the opening of a retrospective exhibition of de Sausmarez's work at the University of Leeds, speaking of the great influence the artist and former principal had on him and his career.
He studied furniture and interior design at the Royal College of Art between 1966 and 1970, before moving into engineering. It was while attending the Royal College of Art to study fine art that he transferred to industrial design, partly because of the tutorage of structural engineer Anthony Hunt.
Early inventions
In 1970, Dyson helped to design the Sea Truck while studying at the Royal College of Art. His first original invention, the Ballbarrow, was a modified version of a wheelbarrow using a ball instead of a wheel and was featured on the BBC's Tomorrow's World television programme. Dyson persisted with the idea of ball instead of wheel and invented the Trolleyball, a trolley that launched boats. He designed the Wheelboat which could travel at speeds of 64 kilometres per hour on land and water.Vacuum cleaners
In the late 1970s, Dyson had the idea of using cyclonic separation to create a vacuum cleaner that would not lose suction as it picked up dirt. He became frustrated with his Hoover Junior's diminishing performance: the dust bag pores kept becoming clogged with dust, which reduced suction. The cyclone idea came from a sawmill that used cyclone technology.Partly supported by his wife's salary as an art teacher, and after five years and about 5,127 prototypes, Dyson launched the "G-Force" cleaner in 1983. No manufacturer or distributor would handle his product in the UK, as it would have disturbed the market for replacement dust bags, so Dyson launched it in Japan through catalogue sales. Manufactured in bright pink, the G-Force sold for the equivalent of $2,000, or around $5,500 in 2023 taking inflation into account. It won the 1991 International Design Fair Prize in Japan. Dyson filed a series of patents for his dual cyclone vacuum cleaner in 1980, and when his invention was rejected by the major manufacturers, he set up his own manufacturing company, Dyson Ltd. In June 1993, he opened a research centre and factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
Dyson's slogan, "say goodbye to the bag", proved attractive to the buying public. The Dyson Dual Cyclone became the fastest-selling vacuum cleaner ever made in the UK. It outsold those of some of the companies that had rejected his idea, and became one of the most popular brands in the UK. In early 2005, it was reported that Dyson cleaners had become the market leaders in the United States by value. Dyson licensed the technology in North America from 1986 to 2001 to Fantom Technologies, after which Dyson entered the market directly.
Following this success, other major manufacturers began to market their own cyclonic vacuum cleaners. In 1999, Dyson sued Hoover for patent infringement, and the High Court ruled that Hoover had deliberately copied a fundamental part of his patented designs in making its Triple Vortex bagless vacuum cleaner range. Hoover agreed to pay damages of £4 million.
In mid-2014, Dyson personally appeared in Tokyo to introduce his "360 Eye" robotic vacuum cleaner. The new model featured 360° scanning and mapping for navigation, cyclonic dust separation, a custom-designed digital motor for high suction, tank treads for traction, a full-width brushroll bar, and user interface via a free iOS or Android app.
Interviewed by Fast Company, Dyson asserted the importance of failure in one's life. "I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That's how I came up with a solution. So I don't mind failure. I've always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they've had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative."
Other inventions
In 2000, Dyson expanded his appliance range to include a washing machine called the ContraRotator, which had two rotating drums moving in opposite directions. The range was offered in bright colours, rather than the usual white or silver, although white versions came later. It was not a commercial success and was discontinued in 2005.In 2002, the company created a model of the optical illusions depicted in the lithographs of Dutch artist M. C. Escher. Engineer Derek Phillips, after a year of work, created a water sculpture in which the water appeared to flow upwards to the tops of four ramps arranged in a square, before cascading to the bottom of the next ramp. Called Wrong Garden, the sculpture was displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2003. The illusion was accomplished by having water containing air bubbles pumped to a slit at the top from which it cascaded down, making it appear that the water was flowing upwards.
In October 2006, Dyson launched a fast hand dryer, the Dyson Airblade, that used a thin layer of air as a squeegee to remove water from the skin, rather than using heat.
A fan without external blades called the Air Multiplier was launched in October 2009. Functions such as heating, air-purifying and humidifying were added later.
In April 2016, Dyson launched a smaller and quieter hair dryer, the Dyson Supersonic.
Research and development
In 2017, Dyson spent £7 million a week on research and development of new products. The company is the UK's biggest investor in robotics and artificial intelligence research, employing over 3,500 engineers and scientists, and engaging in more than 40 university research programmes. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Dyson said, "We're looking at more non-domestic products but we are not rushing to do lots of different things," he said. "We are a private company so we can do it when we are ready."In November 2014, Dyson announced plans to invest a further £1.5 billion into the research and development of new technology, including funding for an expanded campus at the Dyson UK headquarters in Malmesbury which will create up to 3,000 jobs.
The then Prime Minister David Cameron, said: "Dyson is a great British success story and the expansion of the Malmesbury campus will create thousands of new jobs, providing a real boost to the local economy and financial security for more hardworking families. Investment on this scale shows confidence in our long-term economic plan to back business, create more jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain".
In March 2016, Dyson announced a second new multimillion-pound research and development centre on a former Ministry of Defence site at Hullavington, Wiltshire. The company said it aimed to double its UK-based workforce in the next five or six years. Dyson said: "After 25 years of UK growth, and continuing expansion globally, we are fast outgrowing our Malmesbury Campus. To win on the world stage you have to develop new technology and develop great products and that's what we're doing here.".
In September 2017, Dyson announced plans to produce an electric vehicle, aiming to be launched in 2020, investing £2 billion of his own money. He assembled a team of more than 400 people for the project. According to reports, the vehicle was intended to be powered by a solid-state battery, Dyson having acquired the battery company Sakti3 in 2015. In October 2019, Dyson announced that the electric car project had been cancelled due to it not being commercially viable.
In 2017, he launched the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology.