The Dickinson Memorial Lecture

The 27th Dickinson Memorial lecture was presented at the Science Museum on 9th May 2007 by Professor John Burland CBE, FRS, FREng, Emeritus Professor of Soil Mechanics, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London.

Read a short account of his lecture, Stabilising the Leaning Tower of Pisa – the role and importance of its history

The next Dickinson Memorial Lecture is scheduled for 2009.

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The first of the series of Memorial Lectures to commemorate the life and work of the late Henry Winram Dickinson, D Eng, MIMechE, was delivered on 12th May 1954 at the Science Museum in London by Professor Charles Singer. H W Dickinson had been a founder member of the Newcomen Society, and was its Secretary from 1920 until 1951, except for the years 1932-34 when he was its President. He was also Editor of the Society's Transactions from the first volume (1920) until a few months before his death. He was author of more than 30 papers in Transactions.

Dr Dickinson was born in 1870 and served an apprenticeship at Park Head Steelworks in Glasgow, joining the staff of the South Kensington Museum in 1895, and rising to the position of Keeper of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Science Museum 1924-1930. In 1939 he received from Lehigh University in the US the honorary degree of D Eng; he was presented with a gavel (now used by the Society) made from the ancient Lehigh oak.

When the Newcomen Society was founded in 1920 its success and continued existence was due in the main to his enthusiasm - an enthusiasm which inspired others to give of their best - and no-one had done as much as he to prosper its work. Having a wide range of interests himself, he was able to appreciate the enthusiasms of many specialists and to instil in them a sense of proportion, an appreciation of the history of engineering and technology as a whole, and an abiding interest in the surrounding aspects.

The Society is honoured to have entertained some notable speakers; past Dickinson Memorial Lectures include:

Year	Title	Author
1954	The Happy Scholar	Charles Singer
1956	The Development of Iron and Steel Technology in China	Dr Joseph Needham
1958	Sixty Glorious Years: The Impact of Engineering on Society in the Reign of Queen Victoria	S B Hamilton
1960	Roots in the Past: Factors in the Rise of the Petroleum Industry	R J Forbes
1962	Thomas Newcomen's First Steam Engine 250 Years Ago and the Initial Development of Steam Power	Arthur Stowers
1964	Railway Engineering: its Impact on Civilisation	C E Lee
1966	The Industrial Monuments Survey	Rex Wailes
1968	Some Reflections on Engineering Biography	J Foster Petree
1970	The History of the History of Engineering	L T C Rolt
1972	The Control of Machine Tools - A Historical Survey	K R Gilbert
1974	William Chapman (1794-1832), Civil Engineer	Professor A W Skempton
1976	The Evolution of British Dams	G M Binnie
1978	Science and the Steam Engine in the Early Nineteenth Century Reconsidered	D S L Cardwell
1980	Architectura Navalis	Professor A R Hall
1982	The Engineering Development of Rigid Airships	Sir Alfred Pugsley
1984	Was there a decline of the industrial spirit in England 1850-1939?	Professor W H Chaloner
1986	From Cannon to Diamonds - A History of High Pressure Engineering	Professor B Crossland
1988	Some Steps in the Evolution of Early Iron Arched Bridge Designs	J G James
1990	The Mulberry Harbours	Sir Alan Harris
1992	Energy - The Key to the History of Engineering	Sir Hugh Ford
1994	Torquemeter Applications	R D van Millingen
1996	The Development of the Linear Induction Motor	Professor E R Laithwaite
1999	Diversity and Diffusion: the transfer of technologies in the industrial Age	R Fox
2001	Capturing the Age of Industry	Sir Neil Cossons
2003	Engineering History or the History of Engineering? Re-Writing the Technological Past	David Cannadine
2005	Critical Reflections on the Science-Technology Relationship	John Krige
2007	Stabilising the Leaning Tower of Pisa – the role and importance of its history	Professor John Burland