SIR BERNARD CROSSLAND:SIR BERNARD Crossland, who has died aged 87, was one of Queen's University's most eminent academics, an internationally-renowned engineer, research pioneer, author and accident investigator.
His career spanned seven decades and was marked by his belief in close working links between education and industry. The Sustained Achievement Award, given to him just last year by the Royal Academy of Engineering, acknowledged a life given to industry, education and to public service.
He was born in 1923 in London and studied at Simon Langton grammar school, Canterbury, before he began work as a 17-year-old apprentice technical assistant with Rolls Royce. He continued his studies part time and graduated with an engineering degree from what was then Nottingham University College, a constituent of the University of London, in 1943 four months before his 20th birthday.
For the next two years he continued working for Rolls Royce in Derby before taking up his first teaching position at Luton Technical College, a job he held for just a year before he was offered an assistant lecturer position at Bristol University where he remained for the next 13 years, reaching the position of senior lecturer.
In 1959 he moved to Queen’s in Belfast as professor and head of the mechanical and industrial engineering department.
He developed the department, attracting a team of academics and forging close links with industry.
It was here that his international reputation was confirmed as a research pioneer both in high-pressure engineering and in explosive welding used in prototype nuclear reactors.
The author of books and a series of academic papers, he was described by the Sunday Timesas an engineer "who . . . enriched our lives quite as much as all the actors and artists, writers and musicians who are household names".
He published An Introduction to the Mechanics of Machines in 1964, Explosive Welding and its Applicationin 1982, three volumes of The Lives of the Great Engineers of Ulsterbetween 2003 and 2008 and his memoirs, The Anatomy of an Engineer, in 2006.
Queen’s vice-chancellor, Peter Gregson, said Sir Bernard, who became pro-vice-chancellor at the university from 1978 until 1982, was “an exceptionally motivational teacher and research mentor, and a world-class researcher in his own right; he inspired successive generations of students and staff”.
He became emeritus professor of chemical engineering at the university where the computer science department is now housed in a building named after him. Queen’s also has a Sir Bernard Crossland symposium, bursary and medal in recognition of his contribution to the university.
Sir Bernard opted for early retirement in 1984 to contribute to public life, mostly through his expertise as a government-appointed investigator of accidents and disasters.
He headed the scientific committee which established the cause of the King’s Cross fire in London in 1988, and chaired the public hearing into the roof collapse at the Bilsthorpe colliery in 1993.
He also investigated the collapse of the public walkway at Ramsgate port in 1994, the disaster at Qatar’s gas-to-liquid plant as well as major British rail accidents including the 1997 Southall high-speed train crash and the Ladbroke Grove crash in 1999.
Sir Bernard, knighted in 1990 for his services to Northern Ireland, also served on a host of public and professional bodies associated with education, science and public life.
He served on the Northern Ireland Training Council, the Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland, chairman of the Northern Ireland Youth Careers Guidance Committee and the Northern Ireland Manpower Council.
In recognition of his life’s work he was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1987 and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers. He was elected to the Institution of Mechanical engineers and held that membership for nearly 70 years. In addition he was the holder of many international awards and honorary degrees.
Two years ago he explained his decision to continue working despite retirement: “I could not think of anything better to do than to continue what I enjoyed doing. As a consequence I had a wonderfully interesting and stimulating retirement with never a dull moment.”
He is survived by his wife of 64 years Audrey Elliott Birks and their two daughters.
Sir Bernard Crossland: born October 20th, 1923; died January 17th, 2011