Duncan Dowson
Duncan Dowson was a British engineer and professor emeritus at the University of Leeds.Biography
Dowson was educated at Lady Lumley's School and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Leeds, from which he held the degrees of BSc, PhD and DSc.Academic Career
After completing his PhD in 1952, Dowson worked as a Research Engineer at Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company. He returned to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Leeds as a Lecturer in 1954, ultimately becoming Professor of Engineering Fluid Mechanics and Tribology there.
Dowson was Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Leeds from 1987 to 1992 and director of the Institute of Tribology there from 1967 to 1986. He was also Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Leeds from 1983 to 1985. He retired in 1993 with the title Emeritus Professor.
Dowson was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1992.
The Duncan Dowson prize is named for him.
In 2016 he presented the Higginson Lecture in Durham University.Honours
Dowson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1987. He was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1989. He was elected a Fellow for the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1982.
Dowson received the following honorary degrees:
- DSc - Chalmers University of Technology - 1979
- Docteur - INSA Lyon - 1991
- DSc - University of Liège - 1995
- DEng - University of Waterloo - 2001
- DEng - University of Bradford - 2002
- DEng - University of Leeds - 2003
- DSc - Loughborough University - 2005
Works
- Duncan Dowson, Gordon Robert Higginson, Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication J. F. Archand, 1966; 2 edn, 1977
- History of Tribology Longman, 1979, ; Wiley, 1998,
- Biomechanics of Joints and Joint Replacements
- Ball Bearing Lubrication
- Advances in medical tribology, Mechanical Engineering Publications, 1998,
