Palmer Cosslett Putnam was an American consulting engineer and wind power

Wind power

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....

 pioneer, the son of George Haven Putnam

George Haven Putnam

George Haven Putnam, A.M., Litt.D. was an American soldier, publisher, and author. He married classical scholar Emily James Smith Putnam...

 and Emily (Smith) Putnam (1865-1944). Putnam graduated from MIT in 1924 as a geologist

Geologist

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

  after serving in the RAF during World War I. He is known as the designer of the Smith-Putnam wind turbine

Smith-Putnam wind turbine

In 1941 the Smith-Putnam wind turbine, the world's first megawatt-size wind turbine, was connected to the local electrical distribution system on Grandpa's Knob in Castleton, Vermont, USA. It was designed by Palmer Cosslett Putnam and manufactured by the S. Morgan Smith Company...

 installed in 1941 in Vermont, the first megawatt-scale wind turbine

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

 project. Putnam wrote on the subject of wind power including "Power from the Wind" published in 1948, with an introduction by Vannevar Bush

Vannevar Bush

Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex, an adjustable microfilm viewer...

, describing the Smith-Putnam project. His book "Energy in the Future", 1953, was reviewed in the journal "Science

Science (journal)

Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....

".

Putnam served as the president of G. P. Putnam's Sons

G. P. Putnam's Sons

G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...

 publishing company from the time of his father's death until 1932. During the Second World War he worked on military projects including the DUKW

DUKW

The DUKW is a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that was designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Stephens and General Motors Corporation during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious...

amphibious vehicle.

Publications

• 1948: Power from the Wind (Van Nostrand)
• 1953: Energy in the Future (Van Nostrand)