Peter Jost


Peter Jost, CBE was a British mechanical engineer. He was the founder of the discipline of tribology, the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. In 1966, Jost published a report which highlighted the cost of friction, wear and corrosion to the United Kingdom economy. It was in this eponymous report that he coined the term tribology, which has now been widely adopted.

Education and career

Jost was educated at Liverpool Technical College and Manchester College of Technology. He began his career as an apprentice at Associated Metal Works, Glasgow. At 29, he became general manager of Trier Brothers, an international lubricants company, and he went on to serve as a director and chairman of several technology and engineering companies.
He served on numerous industry councils, and until his death was president of the International Tribology Council and a life member of the council of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.

Awards and recognition

The Royal Academy of Engineering noted that "there can hardly be another British engineer with more worldwide honours and decorations".
He was appointed a CBE in 1969, and was also honoured by the heads of state of France, Germany, Poland, Austria and Japan, and in 1992 became the first honorary foreign member of the Russia Academy of Engineering. He held two honorary professorships and 11 honorary doctorates including, in January 2000, the first Millennium honorary science doctorate. He was an honorary fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Institute of Materials.
Shortly before his death, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering but he died before the Academy's AGM at which this was announced.
He established The Peter Jost Charitable Foundation which promotes the advancement of public education in science and technology through teaching and research, particularly the increase of public knowledge in tribology.