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1945: Professor Andrew Robertson
Professor Andrew Robertson (1883-1970)
60th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Robertson was born in 1883 in Lancashire, England, the son of a marine engineer. He was apprenticed in his father’s engineering works gaining a thorough practical training. He showed talent and achieved a place at Manchester University. A first-class honours degree, a Fairbairn engineering prize and a graduate scholarship were the results of his hard work and technical aptitude.
Robertson’s academic skill led to appointments as a demonstrator and tutor at the university. Prior to the First World War, he started investigations into the behaviour of mild steel with his colleague Gilbert Cook. The war took him to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough where he worked on materials testing. He dedicated his time to examining the strength of struts and his findings influenced working practices in the steel industry.
After the war, Robertson was appointed Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol. The mechanical engineering faculty was part of the Bristol Merchant Venturers College and in 1924, he was elected Principal of the college and dean of the faculty. In addition to his academic work, he acted as a consultant and designer.
He achieved honours from Bristol and Bath universities and continued his research into steel into the 1920s. In 1940, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He died in 1970.
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