Roderick Smith (professor)

Smith was born on 26 December 1947 in Oldham to Erik, a schoolteacher, and Gladys Smith{{Cite web |title=Track to the future for rail professor |url=https://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/51921/track-to-the-future-for-rail-professor |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk |language=en-gb}} and grew up in Greenfield, Saddleworth. His grandfather was a platelayer, to which he attributes his love of railway engineering. He attended Hulme Grammar School. As a child he enjoyed solo hiking and got into rock climbing, which became a lifelong interest. He was a member of the Alpine Club and lead various mountaineering expeditions, including to Karakoram and the Himalayas.{{Cite web |title=Obituary – Professor Roderick A. Smith ScD, FREng – Engineering Integrity Society |url=https://e-i-s.org.uk/obituary-professor-roderick-a-smith-scd-freng/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |language=en-GB}} He also contributed various works to The Fell and Rock Journal, a mountaineering magazine,{{Cite web |last=Roderick A Smith |date= |title=Mountineering |url=http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/mountaineering.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020084117/http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/mountaineering.php |archive-date=2020-10-20 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=}} and wrote about the engineering of mountaineering.{{Citation |last=Smith |first=R.A. |title=The development of protection systems for rock climbing |date=2020-12-17 |work=The Engineering of Sport |pages=229–238 |editor-last=Haake |editor-first=Steve |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781000100075/chapters/10.1201/9781003078098-39 |access-date=2025-05-03 |edition=1 |publisher=CRC Press |language=en |doi=10.1201/9781003078098-39 |isbn=978-1-003-07809-8}} His interested in mountaineering also lead to his interest into ice and the mechanics behind the formation of crevasses.{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=R. A. |date=1976 |title=The Application of Fracture Mechanics to the Problem of Crevasse Penetration |url=https://doi.org/10.3189/s0022143000013563 |journal=Journal of Glaciology |volume=17 |issue=76 |pages=223–228 |doi=10.3189/s0022143000013563 |issn=0022-1430}}

Smith received a B.A. in Engineering science at St. John's College, Oxford and a Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University in 1974. His Ph.D. adviser was Keith John Miller, who like Smith was also a fatigue engineer and mountaineer.{{Cite news |title=Professor Keith Miller |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-keith-miller-481222.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220520185646/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-keith-miller-481222.html |archive-date=2022-05-20 |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}} He married Yayoi Yamanoi Smith in 1975.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-20 |title=Roderick A Smith |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020090510/http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/short-cv.php |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=web.archive.org}} He did his postdoc at Cambridge University and was an assistant lecturer there until 1988.

In 1988 he begin his career at Sheffield University as a Professor of Engineering and was head of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at Sheffield University from 1992 to 1995.{{Cite web |title=News about Alumni of the Department of Engineering Science, Professor Roderick Smith |url=https://eng.ox.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-news/rod-smith-1947-2024/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=eng.ox.ac.uk}} In 1999 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-02 |title=2011: Professor Rod Smith - Institution of Mechanical Engineers |url=https://archives.imeche.org/archive/institution-history/president-gallery/1793175-2011-professor-rod-smith |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=archives.imeche.org |language=en}} In 2000 he left Sheffield to become a Professor of engineering and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London. After stepping down from the headship in 2005, he remained a Professor there until his retirement whereupon he became a Professor Emeritus.{{Cite web |title=Rod Smith |url=https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/roderick.smith/grants |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=profiles.imperial.ac.uk}}

In 2011 he became the 126th president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.{{Cite web |title=Obituary – Past President Professor Rod Smith |url=https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/obituary-past-president-professor-rod-smith |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.imeche.org}} He was Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport from 2012-2014,{{Cite web |title=Professor Roderick Smith |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/roderick-smith |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} where he advised on the HS2 project.{{Cite news |date=2011-02-28 |title=How loud will the new high-speed train be? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12596619 |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} An expert on metal fatigue and fracture,{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=R.A. |date=Aug 1998 |title=Fatigue in Transport |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S095758209870744X |journal=Process Safety and Environmental Protection |language=en |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=217–223 |doi=10.1205/095758298529515|doi-access=free }} he served as an expert witness on transportation accidents,{{Cite news |date=2023-06-23 |title=Titan submersible: What is a ‘catastrophic implosion’? |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/titan-submersible-what-is-a-catastrophic-implosion |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}} the effect of volcanic activity on airway travel,[http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/resources/IMechE%2BVolcanic%2BAsh%2BReport.pdf Volcanic Ash: To Fly or Not to Fly?] and the Hillsborough disaster. He was instrumental in importing the Shinkansen Bullet Train at the National Railway Museum, one of only two found outside of Japan.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Roderick |date= |title=National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) |url=http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/science-museum-trustee.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020081538/http://rodericksmith.synthasite.com/science-museum-trustee.php |archive-date=2020-10-20 |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=web.archive.org}}

Smith died on his 77th birthday, 26 December 2024, whilst hiking in the Lake District his family. An inquest found he died of unsurvivable head injuries after slipping and falling whilst crossing a stream.

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Roderick}}

Category:2024 deaths

Category:1947 births

Category:English railway mechanical engineers