Peter Jost was born on 25 January 1921 and educated at Liverpool Technical College and Manchester College of Technology. He began his career as an apprentice at Associated Metal Works, Glasgow, and Napier and Sons in Liverpool, winning the Sir John Larking Medal for a paper on Measurement of Surface Finish.
By the age of 29 Jost had become general manager of international lubricants company Trier Bros, for whom he developed an innovative steam machinery lubrication method which saved energy and water by preventing boiler tubes scaling up. By 1960 he had become lubrication consultant to Richard Thomas and Baldwins. In his career, he was director and chairman of several technology and engineering companies including the solid lubricants company K S Paul, and Engineering & General Equipment.
Dr Jost joined the Institution in 1943, becoming a Fellow in 1957, and was Vice-President in 1987. He retired from Council service in 1992 after a total of 18 years.
He served on numerous industry councils, and was president of the International Tribology Council – which has representatives from tribology organisations around the world – and a life member of the council of the Parliamentary & Scientific Committee at Westminster.
In 1966, Jost led the publication of a report, commissioned by the UK government, which showed, for the first time, that the problems of lubrication in engineering were mainly problems of design. Their solutions, the report argued, needed a range of skills from scientific disciplines other than mechanical engineering – including chemistry and materials science, solid body mechanics and physics.
By applying tribology to machine design, Jost and his team calculated that British industry could save £500 million a year as a result of fewer breakdowns causing lost production, lower energy consumption, reduced maintenance costs and longer machine life.
Working alongside Jost on this publication, the official title of which was ‘Lubrication (Tribology): Education and Research – A Report on the Present Position and Industry’s Needs’, were eminent tribologists including the late Professor David Tabor, who in 1972 was the first recipient of the Tribology Gold Medal, and Professor Duncan Dowson who received the Gold Medal in 1979.
The Jost report – as it later became known – led to the setting up of several national tribology centres in Britain. Jost was referred to as a ‘founding father’ of the discipline and was honoured throughout his life by many engineering institutions, including the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. His ground-breaking research led to the adoption of tribology studies across the world, and to many international accolades.
In March 2016, the 50th anniversary of the report’s publication, Dr Jost and Professor Dowson were awarded commemorative certificates by the Institution in recognition of their outstanding contributions and commitment to the development of tribology. A reception, on behalf of the International Tribology Council, with numerous eminent guests, was held at Buckingham Palace.
In 2009, he co-launched the concept of Green Tribology, paving the way for the first Green Tribology World Congress. Dr Jost’s biggest disappointment was that his home country didn’t recognise the role that tribology plays not just in engineering, but in everyday life. In his speech at Buckingham Palace at the Tribology reception in March 2016, he mentioned that “without friction, none of us would be able to walk out of this room”.
Dr Jost was influential in bringing the UK tribology community together to form UK Tribology (UKT), a joint venture between five learned societies: the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3); the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE); the Institute of Physics (IoP); the Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). UK Tribology was officially incorporated into the Surface Engineering Division of IOM3.
He was made an honorary fellow of the Institution and IET (in 2011) and IOM3 (2016). In 2013 he became only the ninth person to be presented one of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s top accolades – the Sustained Achievement Award – for his vision and achievements in tribology.
Appointed CBE in 1969, Jost was honoured by the heads of state of France, Germany, Poland, Austria and Japan, and in 1992 became the first honorary foreign member of the Russia Academy of Engineering. He was the first non-Chinese recipient of the Achievement for Tribology Gold Medal, awarded by the Chinese Tribology Institution. He held two honorary professorships and 11 honorary doctorates including, in January 2000, the first Millennium honorary science doctorate.
Dr Peter Jost CBE, born 25 January 1921, died 7 June 2016.
Find out more about the Institution's Tribology Group.