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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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."
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
imperial college
