Professor Michael Arthur Laughton

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from arou ...

(born 18 December 1934) is

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

, and currently Visiting Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

Early life

He attended

King Edward VI Five Ways King Edward VI Five Ways (KEFW) is a selective co-educational state grammar school for ages 11–18 in Bartley Green, Birmingham, United Kingdom. One of the seven establishments of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI, it is a volun ...

, a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

in Birmingham, then moved to Canada. Laughton attended

Etobicoke Collegiate Institute Etobicoke Collegiate Institute (ECI, Etobicoke CI), previously known as Etobicoke High School is a high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Islington neighbourhood of the former suburb of Etobicoke. It is overseen by the Toro ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario. At the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, he gained a BASc in 1957. From the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, he gained a PhD in 1965 and a DSc (Eng) in 1976.

Career

Laughton was formerly Pro-Principal of Queen Mary and Westfield College and Dean of Engineering of the University of London. Together with D. F. Warne, Laughton coedited a book, '' Electrical Engineer's Reference Book'', by M. G. Say that is presently in its 16th edition. As a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

, Laughton is currently the UK representative on the Energy Committee of the

European Council of Applied Sciences and Engineering The European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE) is a European non-profit organization, which groups 19 to 20 European national academies of engineering, applied sciences and technology. The organization provides a ...

(EuroCASE), a member of the energy and environment policy advisory groups of the

, the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

, as well as the Power Industry Division Board of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

. Laughton has acted as Specialist Adviser to UK Parliamentary Committees in both upper and lower Houses on alternative and renewable energy technologies and on

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a rat ...

. He put great emphasis on the fact that the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

is an island and therefore cannot rely significantly on imported energy. Apart from participating in many international forums and writing many technical papers relating to the field of energy, Laughton has spent the last decade informally scouring

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

for out-of-the-way inventors. Part of Laughton's motivation is sheer

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

charity, but there's also a more fundamental message he wants to convey to his academic colleagues. He says, "The

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

happened because of craftsmen-inventors... It did not spring from the minds of university-educated people. For too long have we worshipped at the altar of paper qualifications to the exclusion of a wider view. We must recognise the enormous value of the true innovator in effecting the technical changes in society which create real wealth."

Personal life

He married Margaret Coleman in 1960. They divorced in 1994 and have two daughters and two sons.

Academic qualification

BASc, PhD, DSc (Eng),

, CEng, FIEE

References

External links

World Energy Council

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070928032150/http://www.scientific-alliance.org/opinions/opinions_press_releases/thedayafter.htm The Scientific Alliance {{DEFAULTSORT:Laughton, Michael Academics of Queen Mary University of London Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Living people 1934 births University of Toronto alumni People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the University of London Electrical engineering academics British electrical engineers Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology People educated at King Edward VI Five Ways