Patrick Joseph A. Dowling,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FRS (23 March 1939 – 28 April 2023) was an Irish engineer and educationalist.

Early life

Patrick Joseph A. Dowling was born in Sandymount, Dublin on 23 March 1939. He was educated at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, graduating in 1960 with a degree in civil engineering.

Career

Dowling then went to work at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, where in 1986 he was appointed to their chair in structural engineering, which he held for the next 15 years. He was afterwards Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

from October 1994 to his retirement in June 2005. In 1996, he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. Dowling served as President of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a British professional body for structural engineers. In 2021, it had 29,900 members operating in 112 countries. It provides professional accreditation and publishes a magazine, '' The Structural Eng ...

(1994–95), Chairman of the Steel Construction Institute, Vice-President 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 ...

, Chairman of the

Engineering Council The Engineering Council (formerly Engineering Council UK; colloquially known as EngC) is the UK's regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated engineers and engineering technician. The Engineering Council holds the nat ...

, President of the Association for Science Education and as Chairman of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey in 1999 and appointed a

in the New Year Honours List of 2001 "for his contribution to industry/university relations". In 2006 he was awarded the

James Alfred Ewing Medal This is an award of the Institution of Civil Engineers in memory of James Alfred Ewing made by the Council on the joint nomination of the president and the President of the Royal Society. It is made to a person, whether a member of the Institution o ...

of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

Personal life and death

Dowling was married to Grace Lobo, an Indian from Zanzibar, who in 2004 became the first

High Sheriff of Surrey The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635). 1066–1228 (High Sheriffs of Surrey only) 1229– ...

to be appointed from an ethnic minority. Patrick J. Dowling died on 28 April 2023, at the age of 84.

Works

Dowling co-wrote 6 books on subjects in his field of offshore oil platforms, including: * ''"Buckling of shells in offshore structures"'', by J.E. Harding, Patrick Joseph Dowling and N. Agelidis, Granada, 1982 *"''Structural Steel Design''", by Dowling, P.J., Knowles, P. and Owens, G.W., Butterworths, London, 1988

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Patrick Joseph 1939 births 2023 deaths Engineers from Dublin (city) Alumni of University College Dublin Irish civil engineers Fellows of the Royal Society Deputy lieutenants of Surrey Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Presidents of the Association for Science Education People associated with the University of Surrey