Adrian Bowyer
{{Short description|English engineer and mathematician}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Adrian Bowyer
| post-nominals = MBE
| image =
| image_size = 200
| alt =
| caption = Adrian Bowyer in 2008.
| birth_date = 1952
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| alma_mater = Imperial College London
| known_for = RepRap, Voronoi Diagram
| website = {{URL|https://adrianbowyer.com}}
}}
File:Adrian Bowyer (3200519786) (cropped).jpg
Adrian Bowyer {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|oʊ|j|ər}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} is an English engineer and mathematician, formerly an academic at the University of Bath.
Life and works
File:Adrian Bowyer - PopTech 2007.webm at Poptech 2007]]
Born in 1952 in London, Bowyer is the older child of the late Rosemary and John Bowyer; the latter was a writer, painter and one of the founders of Zisman, Bowyer and Partners, consulting engineers. Bowyer was educated at Woodroffe School,http://www.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk/ Woodroffe School Lyme Regis and Imperial College London.
In 1977 he joined the Mathematics Department at the University of Bath. Shortly after that he received a doctorate from Imperial College London for research in friction-induced vibration. Whilst working in the Mathematics Department he invented (at the same time as David Watson) the algorithm for computing Voronoi diagrams that bears their names (the Bowyer–Watson algorithm).
File:Robot 3D print timelapse on RepRapPro Fisher.webm) being printed using fused deposition modeling on a RepRapPro Fisher printer, a company that Bowyer was a director of.]]
He then spent twenty-two years as a lecturer then senior lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Bath. He retired from academic life in 2012, though he is still a director of the company RepRap Ltd.http://reprapltd.com RepRap Ltd He invented the RepRap Project – an open-source 3D printer that can produce plastic parts, including all such parts for a copy of itself.{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Rhys |last2=Haufe |first2=Patrick |last3=Sells |first3=Edward |last4=Iravani |first4=Pejman |last5=Olliver |first5=Vik |last6=Palmer |first6=Chris |last7=Bowyer |first7=Adrian |date=2011-01-14 |title=RepRap – the replicating rapid prototyper |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S026357471000069X/type/journal_article |journal=Cambridge University Press |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=177–191 |doi=10.1017/S026357471000069X |issn=0263-5747}} The Guardian said of this, "[RepRap] has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment..."[https://www.theguardian.com/christmas2006/story/0,,1956793,00.html Put your feet up, Santa, the Christmas machine has arrived], James Randerson at The Guardian, 25 November 2006.
In 2017 Bowyer received the 3D Printing Industry Outstanding Contribution to 3D Printing Award{{Cite web|url=https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/3d-printing-industry-awards-winners-announced-113809/|title=3D Printing Industry Awards winners announced|first=Beau|last=Jackson|date=22 May 2017|website=3D Printing Industry}} and was inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://tctawards.com/hall-of-fame/|title=Hall Of Fame|website=TCT Awards 2018|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-13}} He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to 3D Printing.
His wife is a retired school teacher; they have one adult daughter.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://adrianbowyer.com Adrian Bowyer's home page]
- [http://www.reprapltd.com/ RepRapLtd.com]
- [http://medialab-prado.es/article/reprap_-_wealth_without_money Wealth Without Money] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202060735/http://medialab-prado.es/article/reprap_-_wealth_without_money |date=2 December 2011 }}, Adrian Bowyer at Medialab-Prado
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e26DbMO7POY In the future everyone will work for 15 minutes], Adrian Bowyer presentation
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowyer, Adrian}}
Category:Engineers from London
Category:Academics of the University of Bath
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Alumni of Imperial College London
Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:3D printing specialists