From Birdcage Walk

The latest in our ongoing series of updates about activities at the Institution.

Dear Member,

"There’s a Scottish twist to our thoughts this week as we approach the 200th anniversary of James Watt’s death. Born in Greenock in 1736, Watt’s first patent (“ a new method of lessening the consumption of steam and fuel in fire-engines”) is also exactly 250 years old this year too.

When it comes to an example of ‘improving the world through engineering’ there can surely be few more significant contributions than his work.  There are two specific achievements we are celebrating this month which you are encouraged to go along to if you have time.  The first is at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow on the 19th when we will be making a Heritage Award to the actual Newcomen model engine that Watt himself worked on, and that gave him the inspiration to improve it by fitting a separate condenser. After that, on the 25th, over in Dundee, the Douglasfield example of a Boulton and Watt engine will receive an award too. That one will be accompanied by  a 10 to 15 minute ‘steam and mill-themed musical performance’ by Quire. Both promise to be memorable occasions.

It’s tough to talk about Scottish engineers however without one’s thoughts turning to Montgomery Scott (‘Scotty’). Keeper of the dilithium crystals and much more aboard the starship ‘Enterprise’ he is surely as well known to as many as is James Watt. Played in Star Trek initially by a Canadian (James Doohan) and then by an Englishman (Simon Pegg) there can be no more quintessentially Scottish an engineer. Often lying on his back with his head inside some instrument cabinet, he brought to life how engineers do indeed ‘improve the world’. One legacy he gave us that we should perhaps make more of is that, as far as records show, he never wore a hard hat. Indeed, he was a key part of the leadership team and shared equal status and dress sense to the rest of them. This concept that engineers are humans too is something that our Institution has been working on as part of our education research and which has featured in many of our thought provoking publications in that area. It’s a key point that we mustn't overlook in our Diversity and Inclusion work.

We are just about to take part in a couple of events in support of the Armed Forces in the coming weeks, looking at the attractiveness of engineering as a career. The first is this Friday where we are focussing on continuing professional development and supporting the EngTech community in particular. The second is a public event in a month’s time where we are looking more generally at the UK skills pipeline. In both we must work hard to show that at heart everyone can contribute as an engineer of some sort or another because of the breadth of our profession these days. Whilst we are extremely grateful for all that James Watt did, we need remember you don’t necessarily need to look like him or copy him to be able to improve the world through engineering.”

Joe McGeough

President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers

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