National Academies Press: OpenBook

Memorial Tributes: Volume 8 (1996)

Chapter: Owen Saunders

« Previous: Shinroku Saito
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 228
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 229
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 230
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 231
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 232
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 233
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 234
Suggested Citation:"Owen Saunders." National Academy of Engineering. 1996. Memorial Tributes: Volume 8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5427.
×
Page 235

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

OWEN SAUNDERS 1903-1993 WRITTEN BY N. P. W. MOORE SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY OWEN ALFRED SAUNDERS mathematician, engineer, and dis tinguishecl university administrator, formally professor of mechanical engineering, (lean and acting rector of the Impe- rial College of Science Technology and Medicine, Lonclon, and vice-chancellor of the University of London, flied on Oc- tober 10, 1993. It is somewhat unusual for tributes to be composer! after a certain interval, but in the case of Owen Saunders this is no disadvantage. On the personal sicle, trib- utes have continued to come in from oIc3 students and colleagues across the world. Almost exactly a year ago a me- morial service was held in London at St. Margaret's Westminster attenclec3 by representatives of universities, learned societies, government and industrial research, by members of his family, numerous friends, and colleagues stretching back to his days at Cambridge in the early 1920s. One old student hacI crossed the Atlantic and the Japan Soci- ety of Mechanical Engineers presented a memorial plaque. It was not a sac! occasion, and following the service friends en c! colleagues gathered at his oIcI college where his presence hac3 been quietly dominant since 1932. Someone said, "we will not see another gathering the like of this." Owen Saunders was born in London on September 24, 1904. His father was a practical engineer with an inventive turn of mind; his mother, a school teacher of Welsh origin, 229

230 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES greatly encouraged Owen in his early studies. The family were of modest means and times were hard. However, Owen en- tered Emanuel School, London, and his sister Nancy studied music and became a concert pianist. Many memories of the young Owen as a highly intelligent, somewhat solitary school- boy survive. He tended to find his own way in his studies and surprised his family by constructing his own crystal wireless receiver. He also overcame the advice of his headmaster and abandoned classics for science. In 1921 Owen entered Birbeck College, London, and gained a general science degree in 1923. He was delighted with science and proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, with a scholarship to read natural sciences. In 1924 he gained an open scholarship. The freedom of Cambridge was greatly to his liking; he was inspired by the lectures of Horace Lamb and Rutherford. In the slender collection of papers in his study when he died were neatly bundled sets of notes of all his Cambridge lectures from so long ago. As we expected there was scarcely a note of his later achievements; he was the most modest of men. It was during his years at Cambridge that Saunders first became interested in heat transfer research and its applica- tion to engineering design. Again, his independent nature intervened, and having failed to find facilities for the work he sought in Cambridge, he moved to the Government Fuel Re- search Station at Greenwich in London to work with Professor C. H. Lander. This was the beginning of a career-long devo- tion to the fundamentals of heat transfer in all its applications. It was also the beginning of a remarkable cooperation with Dr. Margaret Fishenden who had herself worked with Ruther- ford in Manchester. Together they set about correlating data particularly relating to furnace design. They also formulated a wicle-ranging program of fundamental research. Both Saunders and Fishenden had strong backgrounds in applied physics, mathematics, and fluid mechanics. They were also convinced of the value of close collaboration between industry and research in universities and government establishments. In this they were strongly influenced by Sir

SIR OWEN SAUNDERS 231 Henry Tizard, and Saunders particularly was drawn into the inner sanctum of scientific effort that was so vital during the Second WorIc} War. In 1932 The Calculation of Heat Transmission by Fishenden and Saunders provided, for the first time, a source book that enabled designers to apply, logically, the mass of data on all modes of heat transfer. It did more than this; it uncovered gaps in understancling and former! a basis for new experi- ments and correlations. It was in 1932 that Saunders moved to Imperial College where Sir Henry Tizard was rector; ant! Lander, professor of mechanical engineering. Margaret Fish- enden also joined the team at Imperial College. In retrospect we can see this period as not only highly productive in re- search, but also as the beginning of a new style in mechanical engineering teaching with less emphasis on practical experi- ence, (Saunders later referred to this as the "oily rag" approach) and instead a devotion to fundamentals. This led to a softening of the boundaries between science and en . . glneerlng. It was at this time that Saunders undertook his pioneering studies of free convection over a wide range of conditions, in ~ , In all his work there is a strong devotion to fundamentals and a fascination with the principle of similitude and logical design of experiments. A series of papers in the Proceedings of the Royal Society records his work on natural convection in liquids, including mercury; studies of flow and heat transfer in granular beds, and measurements of radiation were the subject of other important papers at this time. The heat transfer laboratory at Imperial College flourished and Saun- clers was drawn into the teaching of thermodynamics and dynamics in the mathematics department as well as in the engi- neering departments. War clouds were gathering over Europe and Saunders, uncler the influence of Tizard, was increasingly drawn into work for government. From 1940 Saunders embarked on a series of full-scale ex- periments to boost the output of piston engines for military aircraft operating at high altitude. He showed that some 30 percent increase in thrust could be obtained by optimizing eluding elevated Pressure.

232 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES the wave effects in the exhaust system. Later experiments to boost power output by the injection of liquid oxygen remained vividly in Saunders' memory. This was in part due to his hav- ing destroyed one Merlin engine on the test bee! before the oxygen flow was well-regulatec3 and also a curiosity, in long retrospect, as to the legality of carrying his oxygen injector on the London Unclergrounc3! It is almost certain that Saunders was aware of the work of Sir Frank Whittle on jet propulsion at an early stage. He wouicl have been fascinated by the drive ant! inventive genius of Whit- tIe. Saunders' own contribution sought to refine the mixing in the combustion chambers en c! improve the control system. As the cloak of secrecy was gradually lifted, we learned that Saunders hac! macle important contributions to research on rockets en c! to a number of aspects of petroleum warfare. In 1946 Saunders was appointed professor en c! head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College. He later served as dean of the City en cl Guilds College (the Engineering School of Imperial College) as pro-rector and for the years 1966 to 1967, acting rector. In 1967 he became vice-chancellor of the University of Lonclon. Throughout these years Saunders raised the standing of his department to a level of international distinction en cl contributed to the creation of the expancled Imperial College as a center of excellence in engineering ant! science. Saunders moved easily between scientists and engineers and was no stranger to the corridors of government. Despite so many tasks, Saunders continued his research. His fascination with the future development of gas turbine in the air and on land en cl sea provicled a focus for much of his effort. Pioneering work on heat transfer in supersonic flow proceeded sicle by sicle with flame radiation studies and fun- damental work on the cooling of turbine blacles. Saunders continued to be closely associated with govern- ment and industrial research. 01d interests were revived in the convective heating of liquids, improved studies of regen- erators for gas turbines were undertaken, and there was constant concern with problems of flame radiation in collabo

SIR OWEN SAUNDERS 233 ration with the International Flame Radiation Committee of which Saunders was a founding member. Fundamental pa- pers on natural convection and on heat transfer and flow associated with rotating discs were presented to the Royal So- ciety. Saunders' last experimental studies examined the heat transfer and lubrication performance of piston rings. It was some time before the interdisciplinary approach that flourished during the war years influenced the design of engi- neering courses. Saunders had a clear vision of the patterns of education that were neecled, and he knew where to look for guidance. Friendships with McAdams anct Max Jakob were long standing. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was a Mecca for academics in the 1950s. New friendships clevel- oped with Professor I. H. Keenan and Professor H. C. Hottel. Both were frequent visitors to the United Kingdom and Saun- ders encouraged his young staff to venture across the Atlantic. Research was encouraged, ant! perhaps even more important, there was a near revolution in the teaching of engineering thermodynamics under the direct influence of Kennan. In addition, the advantages of teaching postgraduate courses were slowly appreciatecl. A course in gas turbine technology was the first, followeci by nuclear power. Both courses had strong participation from industry on both sides of the lecture bench. New material filtered down to the unclergraduate courses, which were finally extendecI to four years, and indi- vidual projects became a feature of the final years. Honors both civil and academic were bestowed on Owen Saunders. He was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Soci- et,v in 195S, he was president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1961. Honorary membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers followed also in 1961 as well as honorary membership in the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1965. Saunders was immensely proud to have been awarded the Max Jakob Memorial Award of the Arneri- can Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Society of Chemical Engineers in 1966. By a happy chance a com- ment by Max Knob has been preserved in the record of the National Academy of Engineering: "There is scarcely a corner

234 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES of heat transfer in which something he has written is not to be found." In 1965 Saunders was created a Knight Bachelor. Honors from universities in the United Kingdom and overseas followed, and again it was a measure of his modesty that he never made a list of them! As vice-chancellor of London Uni- versity in a time of change, his persuasive skills in administration were invaluable. It is significant that major reforms now (in 1995) being formulated are based in part on the Saunders Report written some twenty years ago. The early years of a long retirement were saddened by the death of Marion, his first wife, and the loss of a gifted claugh- ter. Owen was the most resilient of men. He remarried in 1981, and Daphne welcomed old friends to a new home closer to London. Life was still rich in music en c! friendships. He wrote sparingly but took immense trouble to pen accurate appreciations of old colleagues. Saunders was a richly gifted man. He moved easily between mathematical analysis and experimental science. He had vi- sion and clarity and applied both to engineering science and university administration. He was convinced that imagination was vital for success in engineering experiment and clesign. He was suspicious of solutions based only on experience of what tract been done before. A friend of many years' stancling, Dr. G. R. Feilden ended his appreciation of Owen with these words, "Let us all remember him for his teaching and research achievements, as a major advisor to governments, but above all, as a delightful and humane man."

Next: Robert L. Smith »
Memorial Tributes: Volume 8 Get This Book
×
Buy Hardback | $107.00 Buy Ebook | $84.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This series presents biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Engineering.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!