2011 R W Thomson Lecture: Materials in Action

The Mining Institute of Scotland (MIS), on behalf of the other Scottish Local Societies (Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association (SPRA) and the Scottish Association for Metals (SAM), was delighted to welcome Dr Diane Aston to Aberdeen on 13th September to give the 2011 R W Thomson Lecture at Techfest.

Diane, Training & Education Executive at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), has travelled widely to give her "Materials in Action" lecture but this was the first time in Aberdeen. To an audience made up of the general public and ranging in age from 12 to over 60, she delivered a fascinating one hour talk that covered the properties and use of the four basic material groups of metals, polymers, ceramics and composites.

Accompanied by samples of turbo fan blades, artificial human eyes, sports protection equipment and much more, she made us all think a lot more about essential 21st century technology that simply would not be possible without the advances in materials science over the last 20 years. In a fitting nod to the inventors of the more distant past and in particular Robert Thomson himself, it was a delightful to have members of the R W Thomson Memorial Fellowship attending.

Report by Craig Durham, President MIS, September 2011

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The 2011 R W Thomson Lecture is the second in the series of prestige public lectures, organised by the local societies in Scotland affiliated to the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (the Scottish Association for Metals, The Mining Institute of Scotland and the Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association) and dedicated to the memory of the prolific Scottish inventor, Robert William Thomson.
For a report on the 2010 R W Thomson Lecture, click here

Robert William Thomson (1822 - 1873)

Born in Stonehaven in 1822, Robert William Thomson left school aged 14 and spent two years in America before returning to Stonehaven where he taught himself the basics of science and mathematics while redesigning his mother's mangle, building a ribbon saw and producing a working model for his elliptic steam engine, which he later perfected. After an engineering apprenticeship in Aberdeen and Dundee he worked for a civil engineering company in Glasgow and then Edinburgh.
Here he invented a new method of detonating explosives using electricity, thereby saving many lives in the mining industry world-wide. He was only 23 years old when he patented the pneumatic tyre, a design remarkably similar to the modern radial tyre. However this met with limited success because of poor quality of roads and the variable quality of vulcanised rubber, the rubber industry still being in its infancy. He turned to solid rubber tyres for his next inventions - an invalid chair, his road steamers, capable of hauling up to 40 tons, and steam omnibuses.
Later inventions included the self-filling fountain pen, a portable steam crane, and a hydraulic dry dock. His many patents included a method of separating rock, stone and coal, improvement to steam gauges and elastic beds and seats.