Duncan Dowson

Professor Duncan Dowson, B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., C.Eng.F. IMechE, ASME Fellow, and Honorary Member of the American Society of Lubrication Engineers (ASLE), has received the Engineer-Historian Award from the History and Heritage Committee for his richly illustrated and comprehensive History of Tribology (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1979). A professor of engineering fluid mechanics and tribology and former director of the Institute of Tribology at University of Leeds, now retired, Dowson is a well known recipient of many awards, including the ASME's Melville medal in 1976.

Friction, lubrication, wear, and the design of bearings have come to be known as tribology since the 1960s. When Dowson began writing a textbook on the subject, with his first chapter on its history, he had become dissatisfied with the superficial treatment that the limited space allotted, and soon his proposed chapter became a book.

"Experience has taught me that engineering students, contrary to popular belief, are genuinely interested in the interactions of technical, scientific, social and political developments," wrote Dowson.

"Delving into historical and archaeological records in any subject can be fascinating yet frustrating and is almost always a great consumer of time. The process has drawn me into several unfamiliar sections of libraries, while many pleasant hours have been spent in museums in the United Kingdom and overseas. Throughout the years I have endeavored to ensure the accuracy of relevant historical and archaeological facts, since this must form the foundations of all such studies. It has sometimes taken weeks, months and even years to unearth a single detail, but the exhilaration of finding the original work or that missing piece of the jigsaw of progress has always justified the effort."

Dowson corresponded with associates in the Russia, Japan, Germany, Holland, and many other countries to compile the research. Some parts were written in the United States, Canada and Australia. Translations of many original texts and some ancient ones, French, Italian, Scandinavian, etc. went into the research.

The biographies included in the text are led most notably by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Passages on Leonardo range from the inscription on his French burial certificate to an account of his notebooks within an appendix entry. His is listed among 22 other biographical sketches, spanning some 500 years, through the 1960s.

In Chapter 11 on professional societies, Dowson gives a brief history of ASME's Research Committee on Lubrication formed in 1915, the evolution of the Tribology Division, the spring conference with ASLE, and activities through 1977.

Professor Dowson's contribution to history fully satisfies the intention of the award, which is to recognize the engineer's participation in the history-telling process. In this way, then, history accurately and comprehensively reflects the achievements of engineers in a way meaningful to engineers and public alike. Former student Keith O'Brien nominated Professor Dowson, in appreciation for the motivation and performance he inspired.