Portrait of William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba

Malawian inventor and author

Born
1987
Country
Malawi

Updated September 2026

About William Kamkwamba

William Kamkwamba is a Malawian inventor, engineer, and author. He gained renown in his country in 2001 when he built a wind turbine to power multiple electrical appliances in his family's house in Wimbe, 23 kilometres (14 mi) east of Kasungu, using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. Since then, he has built a solar-powered water pump that supplies the first drinking water in his village and two other wind turbines, the tallest standing at 12 meters (39 ft), and has built two more, including one in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.

Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

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Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.