List of British engineers explained

This is a historical list of British engineers.

List

• John Allen (born 1928), engineer and plasma physicist
• James Atkinson (1846–1914), inventor of the Atkinson cycle internal combustion engine^[1]
• George Frederick Armstrong (1842–1900), sanitation engineer and academic^[2]
• William Armstrong (1810–1900), inventor of the hydraulic accumulator and breech-loading, rifled artillery
• Hertha Ayrton (1854–1923), pioneered the science of electric arcs and ripples in sand and water.^[3]

• Charles Baird (1766–1843), managed a company which built steam-powered machinery in Saint Petersburg, including Russia's first steamboat^[4]
• Edward Barlow (1639–1719), inventor of the repeating clock^[5]
• John Bell (1747–1798), inventor of various military and nautical devices, including a gyn and a petard^[6]
• Edwin Beard Budding (1796–1846), inventor of the lawnmower^[7]
• Jenny Body, aerospace engineer and former president of the Royal Aeronautical Society^[8]
• Matthew Boulton (1728–1809), partner in the steam engineering manufacturing firm Boulton and Watt, and inventor of a steam-driven coin press^[9]
• James Brindley (1716–1772), pioneering engineer of canals and aqueducts^[10]
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859), noted, among other achievements, for constructing the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Great Western Railway^[11]

• Henry Chilver (1926–2012), expanded Cranfield Institute of Technology by focusing on the practical application of knowledge^[12]

• Victoria Drummond (1894–1978), marine engineer who served at sea as an engineering officer in the British Merchant Navy and received awards for bravery under enemy fire.^[13]
• Gertrude Lilian Entwisle (1892–1961), electrical engineer known for her work on designing DC motors and exciters and one of the founding members of the Women's Engineering Society.^[14]
• Nigel Gresley (1876–1941), chief engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway who invented the Gresley conjugated valve gear

• Holt Samuel Hallett (1841 – 11 November 1911), pioneer railway engineer in Burma^[15]
• Caroline Haslett (1895–1957), electrical engineer who oversaw important requirements for electrical installations in post-war Britain ^[16]
• Oliver Heaviside (1850–1925), electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist who developed the transmission line theory and vectorized Maxwell's equations, among many other things.^[17]
• Christopher Hinton (1901–1983), chief engineer at ICI who worked on the first nuclear power plant, Calder Hall

• Peggy Hodges (1921–2008), communications and systems engineer who worked on guided missile technology at GEC Marconi^[18]
• Sue Ion (born 1955), expert advisor on the nuclear power industry^[19]

• Andrew Meikle (1719–1811), inventor of an innovative mechanical threshing machine^[20]

• • Rachel Mary Parsons (1885–1956), engineer and advocate for women's employment rights, was the founding president of the Women's Engineering Society in Britain.
• Lewis Paul (died 1759), inventor of spinning and weaving machines^[21]

• Dorothée Pullinger (1894–1986), pioneering automobile engineer and businesswoman ^[22]
• Harry Ricardo (1885–1974), researcher and developer of early internal combustion engines
• Margaret Dorothea Rowbotham (1883–1978), engineer in the automobile, munitions and electrical sectors, and champion of women's employment in professional engineering^[23]
• Dorothy Rowntree, first woman graduate in engineering from the University of Glasgow and the first woman graduate in naval architecture in UK^[24]
• Evelyn Roxburgh (1896–1973), first woman to gain a diploma in electrical engineering in Scotland.^[25]
• Beatrice Shilling (1909–1990), inventor of the "Miss Shilling's orifice", a critical component that prevented engine stall in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines of the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighters.^[26]
• Dorothy Spicer (1908–1946), aviator and the first woman to gain an advanced qualification in aeronautical engineering^[27]

• Richard Trevithick (1771–1833), inventor of a high-powered steam engine^[28]

• Claude Hamilton Verity (1880–1949), inventor of the Veritiphone, one of the earliest methods of synchronisation of sound and film.^[29]

• Frank Whittle (1907–1996), credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine.^[30]

Notes and References

1. Book: Hayes. John G.. Goodarzi. G. Abas. Electric Powertrain: Energy Systems, Power Electronics and Drives for Hybrid, Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles. 2018. John Wiley & Sons. 9781119063667. 132. Chapter 5. Conventional and hybrid powertrains.
2. Obituary. George Frederick Armstrong. The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. 1900. LVIII. II. 387–388. Institute. Iron Steel.
3. Hertha. Ayrton. 21 October 1910. The Origin and Growth of Ripple-Mark. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 84 . 571 . 285–310 . 10.1098/rspa.1910.0076 . 93297. 1910RSPSA..84..285A. free.
4. Book: Chrimes. Mike. Skempton. A. W.. Chrimes. M.M.. Cox. R.C.. Cross-Rudkin. P.S.M.. Rennison. R.W.. Ruddock. E.C.. A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. 2002. Thomas Telford. 9780727729392. 30–31. BAIRD, Charles.
5. Book: Stephen. Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 3. 1885. Smith, Elder & Co.. London. 219–220. https://books.google.com/books?id=9gIJAAAAQAAJ. BARLOW, alias Booth, EDWARD.
6. Book: Stephen. Leslie. Lee. Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 2. 1908. Smith, Elder & Co.. London. 167. 2nd. Bell, John (1747-1798). Dictionary of National Biography.
7. News: Blue plaque for lawn-mower inventor. 2018-03-25. BBC News. 23 April 2015.
8. Web site: Royal Society . royalsociety.org . 28 September 2019.
9. Book: Thackeray. Frank W.. Findling. John E.. Events That Formed the Modern World. 2012. ABC-CLIO. 9781598849011. 223–224. Matthew Boulton (1728-1809).
10. Book: Ben-Menahem. Ari. Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. 2009. Springer Science & Business Media. 9783540688310. 1364.
11. News: Parkes. Pamela. The engineering giant with 'short man syndrome'. 2018-03-25. BBC News. 23 March 2018.
12. News: McKeown. Pat. Lord Chilver obituary. 2018-03-25. The Guardian. 25 July 2012.
13. Book: Drummond, Cherry. The Remarkable Life of Victoria Drummond – Marine Engineer. Institute of Marine Engineers. 1994. 978-0-907206-54-5. London.
14. Hardwich. Isabel Helen. Autumn 1954. Retirement of Miss Gertrude L Entwisle AMIEE. The Woman Engineer. 7 no, 14. 3–9. Institution of Engineering and Technology.
15. Unknown . January 1912 . Obituary. Holt Samuel Hallett, Died 1911 . Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers . en . 187 . 1912 . 324–325 . 10.1680/imotp.1912.16843 . 1753-7843.
16. "Post-War Building Studies No. 11 Electrical Installations", HMSO, London 1944
17. Book: J., Nahin, Paul. Oliver Heaviside: the life, work, and times of an electrical genius of the Victorian age. 2002. Johns Hopkins University Press. 978-0801869099. Johns Hopkins paperback . Baltimore, Md.. 47915995.
18. Web site: The Woman Engineer. www.theiet.org. 2018-08-01.
19. Web site: Woman's Hour Power List, Woman's Hour - Dame Sue Ion. BBC Radio 4. 2018-03-25.
20. Book: Treasure. G. R. R.. Who's who in Early Hanoverian Britain, 1714-1789. 2002. Stackpole Books. 9780811716437. 249. Andrew Meikle.
21. Book: Hendrickson. Kenneth E. III. The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in World History. 2014. Rowman & Littlefield. 9780810888883. 710–711. Paul, Lewis (D. 1759).
22. Clarsen. Georgine. 2003-09-01. 'A fine university for women engineers': a Scottish munitions factory in world war I. Women's History Review. en. 12. 3. 333–356. 10.1080/09612020300200363. 144837053. 0961-2025.
23. Book: Baker, Nina C.. Rowbotham, Margaret Dorothea (1883–1978), engineer. 1. 2018-07-12. Oxford University Press. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. en. 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110231.
24. Web site: 5: Dorothy Rowntree. 2021-06-17. Magnificent Women. en.
25. Web site: From our past. 2021-06-02. Heriot-Watt University. en.
26. Book: Price. Alfred.. The Spitfire Story: Second edition. 1986. London: Arms and Armour Press Ltd.. 978-0-85368-861-7.
27. Spicer [married name Pearse], Dorothy Norman (1908–1946), aviator and aeronautical engineer. 1. Fahie. Michael. 2004-09-23. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. en. 10.1093/ref:odnb/67672.
28. Book: James. Ioan. Remarkable Engineers: From Riquet to Shannon. 2010. Cambridge University Press. 9781139486255. 33. Chapter 3: From Trevithick to Sadi Carnot.
29. Lovette . Frank H. . Watkins . Stanley . Twenty years of talking movies . Tell Telephone Magazine . 1946 . 18 April 2024.
30. Web site: Evans . R.L. . Whittle Power Jet Papers . Cambridge Digital Library . University Cambridge . 5 September 2020.