Richard Edwin Dolby, OBE, HonDMet,

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, 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 a ...

, FIMMM
HonFWeldI
(born 7 July 1938 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

) is a metallurgist and former Director of Research and Technology at

The Welding Institute The Welding Institute (TWI Ltd) is a research and technology organisation, with a specialty in welding. It has had headquarters near Cambridge, England, since 1946, and has other facilities across the UK and around the world. TWI works across ...

(TWI) in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, UK. He is a past President at the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

and a current Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

Education

Richard Dolby was educated at

Northampton Grammar School Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is a secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Town and County Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Education in England#Stages of compulsory education, Yea ...

and, following two years' National Service in the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

, at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

( Selwyn College), Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy where he also gained his PhD.

Career

Richard Dolby's early career began at British Alcan and the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

, and in 1964 he joined

(British Welding Research Association). Here he worked on metallurgical aspects of HAZ toughness of pressure vessel steels and jointly led pioneering studies into

lamellar tearing In metalworking, a welding defect is any flaw that compromises the usefulness of a weldment. There is a great variety of welding defects. Welding imperfections are classified according to ISO 6520, while their acceptable limits are specified in IS ...

in welded structural steel. He spent 14 years specialising in metallurgy and carrying out fundamental industrial research in the Materials Department at the Institute, becoming Head of Department in 1978. He was appointed Director, Research and Technology in 1985 until his retirement in 2003 when The Welding Institute hosted a two-day conference in his honour. The Welding Institute'
Richard Dolby-Rolls-Royce Prize
is given biennially to young engineers who demonstrate success in, and enthusiasm for, welding, joining and/or materials engineering at an early stage in their career.

Advisory committees and awards

Richard Dolby has held appointments on th
UK Technical Advisory Board on the Structural Integrity of High Integrity Plant
(TAGSI), the Materials Board of th
UK Defence Scientific Advisory Council
and various Department of Trade and Industry Committees, as well as the

(IoM3). He was President of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining from 2006-2007 and is a past Vice-President of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) where he also served as Chairman of the IIW Technical Management Board and Chairman of the IIW Research Strategy Group. He was elected a Fellow 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 senior ...

in 1987 and awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 2000 for his services to research and technology transfer in materials joining. He is a past winner of The Welding Institute'
Brooker Award
and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining's

Bessemer Gold Medal The Bessemer Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) "for outstanding services to the steel industry, to the inventor or designer of any significant innovation in the process employed in the manufact ...

for contributions to the steel industry. He was invited to deliver the Hatfield Memorial Lecture in 1997 and awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Metallurgy at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in 1998. In 2003 he was presented with th
IIW Arata Prize
for his contribution to the science of welding and joining.

References

External links

R.E. Dolby selected publications and citations

Conference announcement: Metals Joining Technology - Where Next?

Richard Dolby-Rolls-Royce Prize, The Welding Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolby, Richard 1938 births Living people Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Bessemer Gold Medal British metallurgists