Celebrating engineering innovation and creativity in Edinburgh

2018 marked 150 years since Queen Victoria bestowed the first Regius Chair of Engineering in the UK to the University of Edinburgh. Over the past year we have celebrated the achievements, innovations, and alumni we are most proud of, as well as looking to the future to the exciting developments taking place in the School of Engineering.

Scroll through our timeline below to read about some of our key engineers who have made an impact on the world today

John Rennie, a leading designer of canals, docks, harbours and bridges designed London’s Waterloo and Southwark Bridges.

After three years at the University of Edinburgh, Rennie was employed by Boulton and Watt as their London manager before setting up his own civil engineering practice at the age of 29. He became one of the greatest engineers of his age and many of his finest works still endure.

Rennie’s works include twelve canals, London’s Waterloo and Southwark Bridges, and the docks in Leith, Grimsby, London and Liverpool. London Bridge was built to his design after his death, and supervised by his sons George (another Edinburgh alumnus) and John.

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Robert Stevenson, a civil engineer who founded a family dynasty of lighthouse engineers and designer of the Bell Rock lighthouse.

Stevenson was the first of a long line of engineers to the Northern Lighthouse Board, all educated at the University of Edinburgh. His Bell Rock lighthouse,with John Rennie as collaborator, was the tallest offshore structure in the world, and constructed in extreme conditions.

Stevenson took classes at the University of Edinburgh but could not graduate because of his ‘slender knowledge of Latin and total want of Greek’. That didn’t deter him from becoming the nation’s most eminent lighthouse engineer, and the designer of many harbours and bridges.

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Robert Stirling patented the Stirling Engine – a closed-cycle engine that creates motive power from heated air, still in use today.

After studying at the University of Edinburgh, Stirling patented his engine in 1816, the same year he was ordained as a Church of Scotland minister. He continued to improve the engine, with additional patents in 1827 and 1840.

As conventional fuels become ever scarcer, the Scottish clergyman’s ideas are of more relevance today than ever. Applications include heat pumps and hybrid engines, and the Swedish Navy uses Stirling engine technology for their submarines.

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George Parker Bidder’s early life started as a ‘calculating boy’, he later became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

At the age of eight, Bidder could calculate the square root of twelve digit numbers within 30 seconds, and performed mental arithmetic feats before Queen Charlotte and in fairs around the country.

Edinburgh gentlemen compensated his family so that he could receive a proper education at the University, and Bidder became a successful civil engineer. In 1834, he worked with Robert Stephenson on the London-Birmingham railway. Together they created the first railway in Norway.

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Robert Stephenson designed ‘Rocket’ which won the Rainhill Trials meaning that locomotives, not cable, would haul the new railway.

After a year at Edinburgh and three years in South America, Stephenson returned to the UK and developed the most advanced locomotive of the day, reaching a top speed of 30 miles an hour, ensuring that locomotives would be used on the Liverpool-Manchester railway rather than rope-haulage.

He then developed the ‘Planet’ class as the prototype main-line locomotive. After 1830 he became a leading railway- and bridge-builder in the UK, Egypt, Norway, and Canada. He was President of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers, and one of only two engineers (with Thomas Telford) to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

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William Rankine was, alongside Lord Kelvin and Rudolph Clausius, a pioneer of thermodynamics, geotechnical and structural theory.

Born in Edinburgh, Rankine won a Gold Medal for an essay on the wave theory of light while studying at the University of Edinburgh and later went on to become Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Glasgow in 1855, succeeding Lewis Gordon, another Edinburgh alumnus.

Rankine wrote a series of manuals on engineering, much reprinted, that defined the knowledge base. His name lives on in the Rankine theory of earth pressure, the Rankine cycle, the Rankine-Gordon formula, the Rankine Lecture and more.

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The son of a fugitive slave, Elijah McCoy was a prolific inventor and engineer who held 57 US patents at the time of his death.

Born in Canada, McCoy’s status meant that higher education was denied to him in North America and he was sent to Scotland to be trained as a mechanical engineer, reportedly taking classes at the University of Edinburgh. On his return to North America he worked as a fireman and oilman for the Michigan Railway, but then invented a lubricating device which enabled oil to flow around the engine at a steady rate without the train needing to stop.

Legend has it that the phrase ‘the Real McCoy’ stemmed from this invention, to distinguish it from imitations. McCoy founded his own company in 1920 and he became an important figurehead for black American inventors and engineers.

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Fleeming Jenkin was the first Regius Chair of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, founded by Queen Victoria.

The Regius Chair of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh was founded by Queen Victoria in 1868, recognising the importance of engineering in the United Kingdom. The Chair was endowed by industrialist Sir David Baxter of Dundee. Appointment to the Regius Chair is still made by Royal Warrant.

Jenkin is known for his pioneering work in electrical telegraphy, including deep water cable-laying, and for inventing the cable car. His text book Electricity and Magnetism acknowledges assistance received from his friends James Clerk Maxwell (another Edinburgh alumnus) and Sir William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin.

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Thomas Hudson Beare, third Regius Chair, expanded student numbers and oversaw Engineering’s move to the King’s Buildings.

Hudson Beare had been professor at Heriot-Watt and University College London before his appointment to Edinburgh. A career academic, he was respected for his skills in university administration and for increasing the profile of engineering at Edinburgh.

He wrote articles for Encyclopaedia Britannica, and many biographies of engineers for the Dictionary of National Biography. He was knighted in 1926.

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The first woman member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Dorothy Buchanan helped design the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Dorothy Buchanan studied engineering at the University of Edinburgh from 1918 to 1923, and was later employed in Ralph Freeman’s design team for Dorman Long’s Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Buchanan was also a site engineer on the Silent Valley Dam for Belfast’s water supply, and designed steelwork for the George V Bridge in Newcastle and Khartoum-Omdurman bridge, becoming a corporate member of ICE in 1927, supported by Hudson Beare. After her marriage in 1930, Buchanan chose to leave the engineering profession, but given the automatic marriage bar for women in almost all paid employment, continuing may not have been possible.

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Mary (Molly) Isolen Fergusson was the first woman to graduate with honours in engineering at The University of Edinburgh.

Molly Fergusson’s first job after graduating was with Blyth and Blyth of Edinburgh, where she worked on Scottish infrastructure projects including the River Leven Scheme. In 1948, Fergusson became the first female senior partner of a British civil engineering company, serving Blyth and Blyth with relentless energy until she retired in 1978.

Fergusson was the first female Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, was active in the Women’s Engineering Society, and was awarded an OBE in 1979.

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Sir Duncan Michael designed the side shells of the Sydney Opera House and became chairman of global engineering consultancy Arup.

Michael graduated in civil engineering from the University of Edinburgh. He joined Arup and worked on the Sydney Opera House, designing its side shells.

He used computer methods in 1968 to enable stonemasons to create the complex geometry of the iconic Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran. Other projects include repairs to slopes after the Po Shan Road disaster, and the Hopewell Centre (Hong Kong), the British Library, and Lloyds of London. As chairman, he consolidated the Arup business model globally, and was knighted in 2001.

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Azar Besharat (née Moayeri), a chemical engineering graduate, created Canada’s first line of all-natural hair removal systems.

The first female chemical engineering graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Azar Besharat went on to become a successful engineer in her native Iran and was the first female engineer at the National PetroChemical Company.

After protesting for women’s freedoms following the Iranian Revolution, Besharat re-settled in Canada where she started a home-based business making sugar wax hair-removal products. She is now the CEO of a successful global company specialising in natural hair removal.

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Stephen Salter is an innovative thinker and the inventor of the Edinburgh Duck, a device that converts wave power into electricity.

Emeritus Professor in the School of Engineering, Salter is widely acknowledged as a leading pioneer in marine energy. Following the oil crisis in 1973, he designed and created the ‘Edinburgh Duck’ to absorb the energy of waves and convert 90% of it into electricity. Salter’s wide tank was the world’s first multi-directional wave tank equipped with absorbing wavemakers.

Before this, Salter and Donald Michie created FREDDY, a forerunner of the assembly robots commonly used in industrial plants today. He was awarded an MBE in 2004.

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Influential in establishing Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, the first of its kind in the world.

Frank Rushbrook was a fireman in the Central Fire Station in Edinburgh during WWII. He moved to the East Ham Fire Brigade in London, where he personally pioneered the use of underwater breathing apparatus for the first underwater rescue in Britain.

After returning to Edinburgh in 1959 as firemaster, Rushbrook designed a fire school to train Merchant Navy Officers in all aspects of shipboard fires and fire prevention. He then initiated a series of short courses on fire safety and convinced the University of Edinburgh to establish an MSc in Fire Safety Engineering in 1973 under Professor David Rasbash.

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David Milne and Jim Reid founded Wolfson Microelectronics, a leading global signal processing company for consumer electronics.

Wolfson Microelectronics began as an engineering spin-out company run by David Milne, Director of the Wolfson Microelectronics Institute at King’s Buildings, and Jim Reid, an alumnus of the School of Engineering. Wolfson became a global supplier of high performance audio solutions for many of the world’s consumer electronic products and provided the functionality for much of Apple’s iPod series, as well as being used in the Microsoft Xbox and Samsung smartphones.

In 2006 the Confederation of British Industry named David Milne ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and Wolfson was named ‘Company of the Year’. Cirrus Logic acquired Wolfson in 2014, valuing the company at £291m.

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Win Rampen, Niall Caldwell and Uwe Stein developed the next generation of digital hydraulic machines in Artemis Intelligent Power.

The company developed within the University of Edinburgh, following a “technology licensing” business model. In 2008, it moved to Loanhead, later becoming part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop their 7MW offshore wind turbine, and other applications.

In 2015, Rampen, Caldwell, Stein, Pierre Joly and Stephen Salter together won the MacRobert Award for Engineering, the UK’s highest accolade for commercially successful engineering innovation.

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The founder of LiFi, Harald Haas has demonstrated the potential of high-speed, wireless technology through light communication.

The term ‘LiFi’ was coined by Harald Haas when he presented at the TED Global Conference in 2011. LiFi refers to wireless data which is produced using visible light communication rather than radio frequency waves, so that high-speed information can be transmitted to and from, say, an LED light bulb.

Haas became Chair of Mobile Communications in the School of Engineering in 2010. In 2011, LiFi was listed among the 50 best inventions in TIME Magazine. Haas spun out pureLiFi Ltd in 2012. pureLiFi employs more than 50 high-skilled people and are world leaders in LiFi products.

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HYPED is an interdisciplinary student team developing Hyperloop technology, a very high speed intercity mass transport system.

Formed in 2015, HYPED participated in the first SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition where they were awarded the Subsystem Technical Excellence Award. In the following year, the group was selected from the competition to showcase their Hyperloop prototype. Only 24 of the top teams worldwide were invited to do so, and HYPED was one of only four from Europe, and the only UK entry.

HYPED was one of 10 winners of the Hyperloop One Global Challenge, a business competition with over 2000 entrants; they were the only student team among the winners. HYPED has featured in local, national and international media.

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Emerging Technologies: The Future of Engineering

To mark the finale of the School’s 150th anniversary celebrations, join the School of Engineering and the Royal Academy of Engineering for a special panel debate to explore emerging engineering technologies.

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Ceremonial plaques recognise alumni from School’s history

On Monday 3 September 2018, the School’s first commemorative plaques were unveiled to celebrate the achievements of three outstanding alumni, and the School’s first ever Regius Professor.

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£1m awarded to project benefitting young wheelchair users

A project to improve the lives of young disabled people has been awarded £1 million

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Celebrating engineering innovation and creativity in Edinburgh

John Rennie

John Rennie

John Rennie

Robert Stevenson

Robert Stevenson

Robert Stevenson

Robert Stirling

Robert Stirling

Robert Stirling

George Parker Bidder

George Parker Bidder

George Parker Bidder

Robert Stephenson

Robert Stephenson

Robert Stephenson

William Rankine

William Rankine

William Rankine

Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy

Fleeming Jenkin

Fleeming Jenkin

Fleeming Jenkin

Sir Thomas Hudson Beare

Sir Thomas Hudson Beare

Sir Thomas Hudson Beare

Dorothy Buchanan

Dorothy Buchanan

Dorothy Buchanan

Molly Fergusson

Molly Fergusson

Molly Fergusson

Sir Duncan Michael

Sir Duncan Michael

Sir Duncan Michael

Azar Besharat

Azar Besharat

Azar Besharat

Stephen Salter

Stephen Salter

Stephen Salter

Frank Rushbrook

Frank Rushbrook

Frank Rushbrook

David Milne and Jim Reid

David Milne and Jim Reid

David Milne and Jim Reid

Win Rampen

Win Rampen

Win Rampen

Harald Haas

Harald Haas

Harald Haas

HYPED

HYPED

HYPED

Emerging Technologies: The Future of Engineering

Ceremonial plaques recognise alumni from School’s history

Update your alumni details

£1m awarded to project benefitting young wheelchair users