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1978: Sir Diarmuid Downs
Sir Diarmuid Downs (1922-2014)
93rd President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Downs was born in 1922 in London, England.
His father ran a small engineering business manufacturing equipment for the oil industry. Downs was educated at Gunnersbury Catholic Grammar School and the Polytechnic, London. He then studied at the Northampton Engineering College, London, where he graduated with First Class honours in 1942. He won a postgraduate bursary for further research and study, which he took up with Ricardo and Co.
For his first 15 years with Ricardo, first as student, then as a member of staff and from 1947 as Head of the Petrol Engine Department, Downs pursued a fundamental study of abnormal combustion phenomena in the petrol engine, resulting in a clearer understanding of the problems of knock and pre-ignition.
Downs was made a Director of Ricardo's in 1957. He was made Managing Director ten years later, remaining in this position until 1984. He was Chairman of the company from 1976 to 1987.
He died in 2014.
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