Articles
PAST PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING ONE OF FOUR NEW MEMBERS OF THE SCOTTISH ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME
05 October 2024
Sir Jim McDonald, GBE FREng FRSE is one of four engineers inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.
Jim was born in Glasgow and studied electrical engineering at Strathclyde University spending 7 years in the electric utility sector before returning to Strathclyde in 1984 as lecturer in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He was appointed to the Rolls-Royce Chair of Electrical Power Systems in 1993 and became Principal and Vice-Chancellor in 2009. In 2012 he was knighted for services to education, engineering and the economy, and Knight Grand Cross in 2023 for services to engineering, education and energy. In 2019 he was the first Scottish engineer to become President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Sir Jim co-chairs, with the First Minister, the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board. He is Chair of the Independent Glasgow Economic Leadership Board and is a past-Chair of the Board of the Glasgow Science Centre.
Dr David Milne, OBE FREng FRSE engineering entrepreneur and co-founder of Wolfson Microelectronics, Scotland’s first university spin-out. David was born in Edinburgh and graduated from Heriot Watt University in Applied Physics then studied for a PhD at the University of Bristol. He was recruited to the Scottish Microelectronics Institute in the University of Edinburgh becoming its Director at the age of 31. This was to become the first successful spin-out from a Scottish University and the second to be listed on the London stock exchange - as Wolfson Microelectronics plc. With his co-founder Jim Reid he developed world-leading digital consumer electronics components selling into the top brands of mobile phones, tablets, hi-fi systems, televisions, sat-navs, video games and much else.
He was voted Entrepreneur of the year in 2003 and 2006, Scottish CEO of the year in 2006 and TechMark Personality of the Year in 2006. He also received the Third Millennium Medal for Outstanding Achievements and Contributions from the US Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Wolfson Microelectronics was nominated as the best new company to join the London market in 2004 and won the Best Technology Award for a British plc in 2005. It has also received two Queen’s awards for innovation and export. He was awarded the RSE Royal Medal in 2012.
David Milne has had a key influence in the digital revolution.
Sir Alfred Yarrow, who relocated his shipbuilding business from London to the Clyde, beginning a dynasty of Yarrow shipbuilders. Yarrow was born in London in 1842 and apprenticed to a firm making marine engines. He designed a steam carriage which ran at about 25mph in Greenwich until one hit a mounted policeman and he broke his leg – which led to parliament banning steam carriages unless preceded by a man with a red flag. He then turned to building steam launches for river navigation, neatly avoiding the man with a flag problem, and then increasingly larger civil and military vessels, with, eventually, fast torpedo boats progressing on to even faster torpedo boat destroyers.
Sir Alfred Yarrow was the progenitor of a great shipbuilding dynasty whose business outgrew Poplar in London and he moved it lock, stock and barrel to Scotstoun on the Clyde in 1906 where his first destroyer was launched in 1908. No less than 29 destroyers, 16 gunboats, 1 submarine, 3 hospital ships and 1 floating workshop were built in the Scotstoun yard during the First World War alone, a huge contribution to ultimate victory. Alfred Yarrow was also a great philanthropist giving to many charitable causes in his time.
David Boswell Reid, the grandfather of air-conditioning. David was born in Edinburgh in 1805 and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh then taught practical chemistry there. Through his work with medical charities, he published a pamphlet entitled ‘The Chemistry of Daily Life’ to educate the population of over-crowded cities and the environmental causes of ailments and disease. He set up his own laboratory in Edinburgh to study the relationship between freshness of air and wellbeing or disease – the first time this had been systematically researched. He was appointed to make improvements to the House of Commons ventilation after the fire in 1834, and later appointed to the new building but fell out with the architect Charles Barry who resented his requirements for large air ducts. So his design was only partly adopted. He is regarded as the grandfather of air-conditioning and developed ventilation solutions for hospitals, prisons, ships and public buildings in the UK, Russia and America, principles which were followed by others, improving air quality markedly, and reducing incidences of cross infection. He is a true unsung hero of Scottish engineering.
Their induction was announced at the annual Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) James Watt dinner, held in Glasgow last night. (Friday 4 October 2024).
Gordon Masterton, Founder and Chairman of Judges for the Hall of Fame, said: " The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame was launched in 2011 and now has 60 members whose lives tell the story of almost 500 years of world-beating engineering innovators who created huge improvements in the quality of life and economy of Scotland, the United Kingdom and, through the impact of their discoveries and the Scottish diaspora, the world. Celebrating these role models for their exciting and inspirational careers in engineering is our mission.”
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said “I am delighted to see Sir Jim McDonald's well-deserved induction to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame, partly in recognition of his five transformative years as President of our Academy. He is a visionary leader whose prodigious energy, talents and social conscience have made prolific contributions across public life.”
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Notes to editors and Further Information
Website: https://engineeringhalloffame.org/
The James Watt Dinner is the annual dinner of IES, Scotland's multi-disciplinary engineering institution founded in 1857. Each year it features the announcements of the latest inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame tells the story of Scotland’s engineering contribution to our civilisation through the achievements and lives of the inductees. There are now 60 inductees, each a role model whose great lives inspire young people into careers in engineering.
LEADING ELECTRONICS ENGINEER AMONGST FIVE NEW MEMBERS OF THE SCOTTISH ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME
07 October 2023
Dr Carol Marsh, OBE is one of five engineers to be inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. Carol was born in Edinburgh and is an alumna of no less than five Scottish universities: Napier, Heriot Watt, Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh in the field of electronics engineering, specialising in Field Programmable Gate Arrays and is now head of Digital Systems at Celestia UK.
Prior to Celestia, Carol was acting Head of Electronics for Leonardo’s Edinburgh operation and she has also given valuable pro-bono work as a Vice President of IET, Council member of IES, board member of Engineering Scotland, Vice President of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, and Past President of the Women’s Engineering Society. She was Strathclyde University’s Alumna of the Year in 2022.
She is joined by Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of the Flying Scotsman; Sir Alexander Gibb, who built Rosyth Dockyard, then established the world’s largest civil engineering consultancy; David Kirkaldy, pioneer of material testing; and William Symington, the first to design a vessel powered by steam.
Their induction was announced at the annual Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) James Watt Dinner, held in Glasgow on Friday 6 October 2023.
Gordon Masterton, Founder and Chairman of Judges for the Hall of Fame, said: " The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame was launched in 2011 and the 56 members tell the story of 450 years of world-beating engineering innovators who created huge improvements in the quality of life and economy of Scotland, the United Kingdom and, through the impact of their discoveries and the Scots’ propensity for travel to find work, the world. Celebrating these great Scottish engineers, native born or adopted, is our mission.”
Notes to editors and Further Information
Website: https://engineeringhalloffame.org/
The James Watt Dinner is the annual dinner of IES, Scotland's multi-disciplinary engineering institution founded in 1857. Each year it features the announcements of the latest inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame tells the story of Scotland’s engineering contribution to our civilisation through the achievements and lives of the inductees. There are now 56 inductees, each an inspirational role model whose lives inspire young people into engineering.
The other new inductees
Sir Nigel Gresley (1876-1951)
Herbert Nigel Gresley was born in Edinburgh, but rather by accident, during his pregnant mother’s visit there to consult with a gynaecologist. He was raised and educated in England.
He became the Chief Mechanical Engineer to the London and Northeastern Railway and designed the locomotive that still holds the speed record for a steam locomotive of 126 miles per hour. Sir Nigel Gresley cemented his early connection to Scotland by designing the most famous locomotive in the world, The Flying Scotsman, 100 years old this year, and still attracting crowds wherever it goes.
Sir Alexander Gibb (1872-1958)
Alexander Gibb was born in Broughty Ferry to a long line of civil engineers. His great grandfather had worked for Thomas Telford. Educated at Rugby and UCL, then articled to John Wolfe Barry and Henry Marc Brunel in London, he joined his father’s company and oversaw their largest project, the construction of Rosyth Naval Dockyard.
After completing Rosyth Dockyard, Sir Alexander Gibb had a distinguished career in the first world war as Chief Engineer for Ports, knighted in 1918 for his war service, served as Chief Civil Engineer to the Admiralty, then the Ministry of Transport. He founded his own firm. Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners in 1922 and built up the largest engineering consultancy in the UK. He was President of ICHemE in 1927 and of ICE in 1936. He also wrote “The Story of Telford”. The Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus at Rosyth is now named after two of our Hall of Fame inductees.
David Kirkaldy (1820-1897)
David Kirkaldy was born in Dundee, educated at the University of Edinburgh, and apprenticed to Robert Napier’s Vulcan foundry in Glasgow in 1843, designing steamships, engines and boilers.
By 1847, at the age of 27, he was Chief Draughtsman and Calculator. Later he started a huge programme of testing of iron and steel properties, published in 1862, and resigned to design his own Universal Testing Machine, patented in 1863. His robust slogan “Facts Not Opinions” was inscribed above his new premises.
David Kirkaldy established the Kirkaldy Testing House in Southwark, now a museum, and a business that lasted three generations. They tested materials for the Eads Bridge in St Louis, girders from the Tay Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Festival of Britain Skylon and the Comet crash investigations.
William Symington (1764-1831)
William Symington was born in Leadhills in 1764 and worked in the Wanlockhead lead mines. The company bought a Boulton & Watt steam engine in 1777 and young William studied this, and after attending the University of Edinburgh for a few months in 1786, began experimenting with his own variations, building a model steam driven road carriage he patented in 1787. He was 23. A year later he turned to marine propulsion and the first trials of a steam powered vessel were made on Dalswinton Loch in Dumfriesshire, promising but not wholly successful. However, Lord Dundas, Governor of the Forth & Clyde Canal, later commissioned him to build two experimental tugboats.
The tugs were both named Charlotte Dundas, and they worked well, but were not purchased, fearing that their speed would cause bank erosion. Many others, like Robert Fulton and Henry Bell, spotted the potential of steam navigation and Symington had to fight many cases to defend his patent. But he got there first – a true pioneer.
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IT Entrepreneur, and Hip-joint Researcher Amongst Four New Members of the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame
08 October 2022
Ian Ritchie, CBE is one of four engineers to be inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. Ian studied Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University, then joined ICL at Dalkeith Palace, and in 1984 formed his own company, Office Workstations Limited, and a year later OWL International Inc in Seattle. OWL became the first and largest supplier of Hypertext/Hypermedia authoring tools for personal computers (as used now in web-browsing). Panasonic bought OWL in 1989. His career since then on multiple company boards, in information technology, start-up engineering and philanthropic organisations in Scotland, has more than made up for any disappointment at being the man who turned down Tim Berners Lee who pitched his idea for a world wide web in 1990, the subject of Ian’s much-viewed TED talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/ian_ritchie_the_day_i_turned_down_tim_berners_lee?language=en
He is joined by Anne Neville, an outstanding researcher into hip joints; David Boyle, born in Johnstone, the first to patent an Ice making machine establishing his business in Chicago; and Francis Elgar, first naval architect in the world to hold a professorial chair, the John Elder Chair at Glasgow University (see page 2 for further details of these three).
Their induction was announced at the annual Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) James Watt dinner, held in Glasgow last night. (Friday 7 October 2022).
Gordon Masterton, Founder and Chairman of Judges for the Hall of Fame, said: " The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame was launched in 2011 and the 51 members tell the story of 450 years of world-beating engineering innovators who created huge improvements in the quality of life and economy of Scotland, the United Kingdom and, through the impact of their discoveries and the Scots’ propensity for travel to find work, the world. Celebrating these is our mission.”
Welcoming the announcement of the new inductees, Paul Sheerin, Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering, said: “Once again, the annual inductees to our Hall of Fame underlines the breadth of inspirational Engineering role models we enjoy in Scotland, spanning IT, advanced materials research, naval architecture and shipbuilding and refrigeration. It’s especially welcome to see Ian Ritchie and Anne Neville’s induction underlining the importance of Scotland’s current excellence in computing, information technology and high-quality research.”
Airbus A350 Chief Engineer Is One of Four New Members of the Engineering Hall of Fame
05 October 2019
Gordon McConnell, who led the design of the Airbus 350, is one of four engineers to be inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.
He is joined by Mary (Molly) Fergusson, the first woman to lead a major civil engineering consultancy in the UK and strong supporter of the Women’s Engineering Society celebrating its centenary this year; William Murdoch, the “third man” in the success story of Boulton & Watt steam engines, the enterprise that pioneered the industrial revolution, and John Scott Russell, another steam carriage designer but better known for building the biggest ship in the world at the time, the ‘Great Eastern’.
Their induction was announced at the annual Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS) James Watt dinner, held in Glasgow last night. (Friday 4 October 2019)
Gordon Masterton, Founder and Chairman of Judges for the Hall of Fame, said: "Gordon McConnell is a great addition to our celebration of Scottish Engineering achievement. Developing the complex A350XWB aircraft involved pioneering design, analysis, simulation and test work by thousands of skilled engineers on all five continents of the world. Leading this huge engineering team effort to meet stringent safety requirements, performance and design targets and industrial milestones was an exceptional achievement, reflecting in its record sales for Airbus."
Collectively, the 39 members now in the Hall of Fame tell the story of 450 years of world-beating engineering innovators who created huge improvements in the quality of life and economy of Scotland, the United Kingdom and, through the many itinerant engineering Scots like Gordon McConnell, the world.
Welcoming the announcement of the new inductees, Paul Sheerin, Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering, said: "Once again, the annual inductees to our Hall of Fame underlines the breadth of inspirational Engineering role models we enjoy in Scotland, spanning aerospace, civil, mechanical and naval engineering. It’s especially welcome to see Gordon McConnell’s induction underlining the importance to Scotland’s aerospace industry of the many branches that Scottish Aviation Ltd was the root of, and this is mirrored in Gordon’s own varied and hugely influential career."
The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame was launched in 2011 by The Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS), and is supported by engineering institutions, museums and trade bodies in Scotland, including Scottish Engineering.