William Bateman Hall FREng (28 May 1923 – 6 August 2003) was a British nuclear engineer, and emeritus professor at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

Early life

He was educated at

Urmston Grammar School Urmston Grammar (known as Urmston Grammar School until September 2010), is a co-educational Grammar schools in the United Kingdom, grammar school in Urmston, Greater Manchester, England. It is an Academy (English school), academy located within ...

. He studied at the Manchester Municipal College of Technology, which became

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

(UMIST), graduating in 1950.

Career

He had an engineering apprenticeship from 1939 to 1944 with the

Manchester Ship Canal Company The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the rive ...

. He worked at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

from 1944 to 1946.

Nuclear energy

He worked from 1946 to 1959 for the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

Risley, Warrington Risley is a district in the northeast corner of Warrington, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies south of Culcheth and is historically pa ...

(former

ROF Risley ROF Risley, (Filling Factory No.6) was a large World War II Royal Ordnance Factory filling munitions, including the Grand Slam bomb, in the UK. It is located roughly halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. World War II With the advent of the Se ...

), the northern headquarters of UKAEA near

Birchwood Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. Hi ...

( M6 side of Warrington). In 1964 he launched the Manchester-Liverpool joint research reactor, known as the

Universities Research Reactor Universities Research Reactor, also known as Universities' Research Reactor or University Research Reactor, was a small Argonaut class nuclear research reactor in Risley, Warrington, England that went critical on 7 July 1964. It was jointly owned ...

University of Manchester

He was the first Professor of Nuclear Engineering, from 1959 to 1986, at the University of Manchester, the heyday of Britain's nuclear energy industry. In 1976 he launched the undergraduate degree in Nuclear Engineering. Initially, whilst at UKAEA, he worked for the University of Manchester two days a week. He was awarded the 1978 James Clayton prize, by 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 120,000 member ...

Personal life

He married Helen Dennis in 1950, and had four daughters.

References

External links

School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, William Bateman 1923 births 2003 deaths Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology British nuclear engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering People educated at Urmston Grammar