James Edward Gordon

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James Edward "Jim" Gordon , mostly quoted as "JE Gordon", (* 1913 in the Lake District ; † 1998 ) was a British materials scientist and engineer. He is known for pioneering work in composite materials (composite material) and known in biomechanics, as well as for his popular science books on material properties.

Life

Gordon studied shipbuilding at the University of Glasgow , worked at shipyards in Scotland and originally wanted to design sailboats as he was a passionate sailor himself. During World War II, he worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough on non-metallic materials such as wood, composite materials and fiber-reinforced materials, including designing the lifeboats of Royal Air Force bomber pilots. He later worked in Farnborough on (fiber-reinforced) plastic materials for aircraft. He then worked in industry (Tube Investments in Hinxton Hall near Cambridge), among other things on the strength of glass and growing whisker crystals. In 1962 he went back to the civil service at the Explosives Research and Development Establishment (ERDE) in Waltham Abbey , where he developed new types of materials, for example based on whisker crystals made of silicon carbide, which were embedded as ceramic fibers in a softer surrounding matrix for use in aircraft construction. He was Industrial Fellow Commoner of Churchill College of Cambridge University and from 1968 professor of materials science at the University of Reading .

His books reflect his experience as an aircraft engineer, shipbuilder, but also applications in biology and historical references (he mastered Greek and had an affinity for ancient history) take up a large space. They have been translated into over 20 languages.

He has received the British Silver Medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Griffith Medal from the Material Science Club.

Fonts

  • Structures, or why things don´t fall down , Penguin 1978, Da Capo Press 2003
  • The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor , Penguin 1968, 2010, reprinted by Princeton University Press 2006
  • The Science of Structures and Materials , Scientific American Library, Freeman, San Francisco 1988

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For example, he researched the properties of wood with George Jeronimidis, and both were planning a book about it. Graham Chedd Nature as an Engineer , New Scientist, September 17, 1972. Google Books
personal data
SURNAME Gordon, James Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gordon, Jim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British materials scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Lake District
DATE OF DEATH 1998