News from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Scotland
EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 SATURDAY, 4th October 2014
UNSUNG HERO OF MEDICAL ULTRASOUND JOINS
SCOTTISH ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME
29 September 2014 - Four famous Scots have been added to the Scottish Engineering Hall
of Fame, including Tom Brown, the engineering genius behind the development of
Ultrasound for medical diagnosis.
Tom Brown was inducted at last night’s James Watt dinner - held in Glasgow - alongside 3 other
notable Scottish Engineers: John Rennie, a prolific civil engineer responsible for design of
canals, aqueducts, bridges, harbours and dockyards; Reverend Dr Robert Stirling, engineer
and inventor of the Stirling engine and Robert Napier, shipbuilder and engine designer also
known as “The Father of Clyde Shipbuilding”.
Gordon Masterton, Chairman of Judges for the Hall of Fame, said;
"Ultrasound for improving the care of mothers and unborn children during pregnancy was
pioneered in Scotland. The medical professionals involved became well known, quite rightly. But
it wouldn’t have happened without the genius of Tom Brown, then a young engineer with Kelvin
& Hughes of Glasgow. He’s an unsung engineering hero. Tom’s election to the Hall of Fame
gives him belated recognition of a great achievement.”
These new inductees add to the phenomenal story of Scottish engineering's contribution to our
civilisation and form part of the, now nineteen members, of the Hall of Fame. Collectively, these
members tell a story of 250 years of world-beating engineering innovation that has led to
massive improvements in our quality of life and benefits to the economy of Scotland and the
United Kingdom.
Sara Thiam, Director of ICE Scotland, said:
“John Rennie's prolific work on canals, aqueducts, bridges and dockyards across the UK
including Waterloo, Southwark and London Bridges, Leith & London Docks and the amazing Bell
Rock Lighthouse, mark him as one of the greatest engineers of his age and a worthy addition to
this elite group.
Recognising the outstanding engineers of the past helps us to inspire the engineers of today and
encourage generations to come.”
The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame was launched in 2011 by The Institution of Engineers and
Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS), and is supported by engineering institutions, museums and
trade bodies in Scotland, including the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
END
Contact: Beth Montgomery, Communications Executive
Beth.montgomery@ice.org.uk
01412258193
Notes to the Editor
Website: http://www.engineeringhalloffame.org/index.html
The James Watt Dinner is the annual dinner of IESIS, Scotland's multi disciplinary engineering
institution founded in 1857. Each year it features the announcements of the latest inductees to
the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame, established by Gordon Masterton, President of IESIS in
2010-12
About the Inductees
John Rennie (1761-1821)
John Rennie's work on canals, aqueducts, bridges and dockyards mark him as one of the
greatest engineers of his age.
Rennie was born near East Linton, 20 miles east of Edinburgh. He played truant from school to
watch Andrew Meikle, the local millwright and inventor of the threshing machine, - a 2011 Hall of
Fame inductee - and began to work there when he was 12, while continuing his education. He
studied at Edinburgh University and then worked for Matthew Boulton and James Watt (another
2011 inductee), manufacturer of steam engines.
When he was 29, he moved to London and set up his own engineering business. His first works
were the Lancaster Canal, the Kennet & Avon Canal, the Royal Military Canal, and improving the
drainage of the Norfolk fens. He also designed bridges in stone and cast iron with daringly wide
arches – like Kelso Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge, completed
by his son George after his death.
His docks and harbours included Grimsby, Leith and the London Docks. But his largest projects
were for the Royal Navy as it built the infrastructure for its century of world domination, including
Sheerness Dockyard and the great breakwater at Plymouth. Rennie also gave advice on novel
maritime structures such as steam-powered dredgers, diving bells and the Bell Rock lighthouse.
Reverend Dr Robert Stirling (1790-1878)
The Reverend Dr Robert Stirling was a Scottish clergyman born in Perthshire, who served
parishioners in Kilmarnock and Galston. But he was a closet engineer, an interest inherited from
his father. It was his engineering that made him famous as the inventor of the Stirling engine.
None of Stirling's experimental work or papers survived except for two model engines built by
him when he was a Minister at Kilmarnock. At Edinburgh university Stirling's engine was used in
student classes and it is now on display in the Royal Scottish Museum. At Glasgow university
the engine lay forgotten until discovered in 1847 by William Thomson, who later became Lord
Kelvin – another 2011Hall of Fame inductee. Thomson used the model in lectures to show that
Stirling's machine worked on a reversible cycle.
And the Stirling engine isn’t a curious backwater of engineering. Today’s applications include
heat pumps; the NASA MOD I and II automotive engines; various hybrid electric vehicles;
Swedish shipbuilder Kockums has built 8 Stirling powered submarines; biomass engines for
developing countries; fans for wood-burning stoves; WhisperGen of New Zealand has developed
an "AC Micro Combined Heat and Power" Stirling cycle engine; and Stirling engines are being
used to convert solar energy to electricity with an efficiency better than non-concentrated
photovoltaic cells;. - and many many more.
As conventional fuels become ever rarer, the Scottish clergyman’s ideas from almost 200 years
ago are of more relevance today than ever.
Robert Napier (1791-1876)
In the days before Naval Architecture became a profession, Robert Napier combined his early
interest in drawing and design with his family knowledge of engineering to design, build and
power ships.
He designed his first marine engine when he was 32 and at 36, he built the engines of the two
fastest ships in the Northern Yacht Club's August Regatta. This earned him his reputation. When
he was 37 he established Glasgow's Vulcan Foundry.
The East India Company paddle steamer Berenice built by David Napier, (Robert's cousin) using
Robert's engine, proved much faster than her sister ship Atalanta built on the Thames – beating
her to India by 18 days on their maiden voyage.
His greatest success, however, came from his association with Samuel Cunard of Canada in the
British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. In 1849 he built "Leviathan", the
world's first train ferry between Granton and Burntisland. When the Cunarder "Persia" was
launched in 1854 she was the world's largest ship. In 1856 he built the Royal Navy’s first ironclad vessel, HMS Erebus. The ironclad "Black Prince" launched from Govan in 1861 was, at
9800 tons, the largest ship yet built on the Clyde.
By the early 1850s Robert Napier’s dominance of Clyde shipbuilding attracted a galaxy of able
young managers and apprentices, many of whom went on to found or control their own
businesses. He was in regular contact with the leading academics Rankine (2013 inductee),
Kelvin, Scott Russell and Froude. He became President of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, and he was a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He richly earned the
soubriquet “The Father of Clyde Shipbuilding”.
Thomas Graham Brown (b. 1933)
Tom Brown trained as a Research & Development Engineer with Kelvin & Hughes Ltd, the
Glasgow scientific instrument company founded by Lord Kelvin (2011 Hall of Fame inductee). He
worked on the development of ultrasound equipment for testing welds in large pressure vessels.
When he was 23, he learned that Professor Ian Donald was attempting to use one of the firm’s
Flaw Detectors to distinguish between fibroids and cysts and he offered to help. It became clear
to Tom that some form of pictorial imaging was needed and he believed that it might be possible
to make radar-like images of internal organs. Brown conceived and designed the low–cost “lashup” prototype which was to be the first direct contact ultrasound scanner, and had it built onto a
borrowed hospital bed table in the firm’s workshops. The company applied for patent protection
with Brown as Inventor.
The prototype was made available to Professor Donald, assisted by Dr John MacVicar, in early
1957. They quickly realised its potential, and began exploring its clinical applications, which led
to the Donald, MacVicar and Brown Lancet paper in June 1958, less than two years after the
initial contact. Kelvin & Hughes insisted that the firm, including Brown, should remain in
the background and encouraged Donald to become the public face of the project.
But the great breakthrough would not have happened without the engineering genius of Tom
Brown, the unsung hero of the invention of medical ultrasound.