Society of Engineers
Established in May 1854, The Strand, London.
Third oldest professional engineering body in the UK.
See also: Past Presidents
1854 May. The Society was founded as a means of reunion for former students of Putney College by two engineers, Robert Munro Christie and Henry Palfrey Stephenson, with six others. It was given the title of the "Putney Club." The first meetings were held at "Mr. Talmadje's," 221, The Strand, but in the November of 1854 the meeting place was changed to Mr. Christie's offices at 76, King William Street, in the City. It appears that in the early meetings various points of engineering practice were discussed in an atmosphere of informality. The custom of reading and discussing papers was introduced at the first meeting in 1855, with a paper by the first president, Mr Stephenson, on "The Rise and Fall of Putney College." At the annual general meeting in December, 1857, the name was changed from the Putney Club to the Society of Engineers.[1]
1882 For list of other members present at a visit to the Chatham Dockyard see The Engineer 1882/07/14 page 24.
1910 Joined with the Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society to form the Incorporated Society of Engineers.
2005 the Society of Engineers was absorbed by the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE).
2006 The IIE joined with the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) to become The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
1946 Sir Winston Churchill became an Honorary Fellow and approved the use of his name for the Society's senior award.
Since then recipients of Honorary Fellowships have included:
- Sir Frank Whittle for jet engine design,
- Sir Christopher Hinton and Sir John Cockcroft for their work on atomic energy,
- Sir Geoffrey de Havilland for aircraft design,
- Sir Bernard Lovell for radio astronomy, and
- Professor Alan Wells for the Wells turbine for wave power.
Eminent Honorary Fellow was Sir Guglielmo Marconi, the father of the Radio.[2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] IET