- Unique photographs depicting Scottish engineering innovations to be shown for the first time
Conceptual photographer Ted Humble-Smith will bring a stunning new set of images to Edinburgh Science Festival on Monday 8 April at an Innovation Late event at Dynamic Earth supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The photographs were commissioned by Academy to capture the essence of innovation and celebrate the 55th anniversary of the MacRobert Award, which was inspired by Lady Rachel MacRobert. After a long and eventful life, she died in 1954 at Douneside House on her Aberdeenshire estate, leaving her fortune to the MacRobert Trust, which continues her philanthropic legacy and support for science and technology education.
Opening the door to better eye health
Dunfermline-based Optos won the MacRobert Award in 2006 for the world’s first laser retinal scanner. Ted imagined trying to photograph a whole room through a keyhole from 10cm away. The Optos retinal scanner captures 30 million readings in 0.2 seconds, giving an unparalleled image of the retina. Not only does this give a remarkable insight into the health of the retina, it can also provide early warning indications for a plethora of other conditions. The original Optos scanner was invented by Dr Douglas Anderson OBE FREng FRSE after his five year-old son went blind in one eye when a regular eye checkup failed to detect a detached retina.
From ocean waves to excavators
2015 MacRobert Award winners Artemis Intelligent Power developed an energy-saving digital displacement hydraulic transmission for wind turbines and trucks. The innovation grew out of 1970s research on harnessing the power of the oceans in Scotland. Many of the Artemis group’s ideas dated back to the work of the late Professor Stephen Salter MBE FRSE, the ‘father of wave power’, whose research group took a collective approach to problem solving, developing ideas that could take on a life of their own. Ted has imagined these ideas as jellyfish shaped clouds rising from the water.
Ted will discuss his thought-provoking work with presenter Morvern Cunningham live at the event, which will also feature cutting edge gadgets and tantalising talks celebrating the best of engineering innovation. It includes a look at the fascinating life of Lady MacRobert, presented by Gordon Masterton OBE DL FREng FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Future Infrastructure at the University of Edinburgh.
First presented in 1969, the annual MacRobert Award – with a £50,000 prize for the winner – is unique in celebrating not only outstanding innovation but also tangible societal benefit and commercial success from a new engineering application. Founded by the MacRobert Trust, the award is run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, supported by the Worshipful Company of Engineers.
From the CT scanner to the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, MacRobert Award winning innovations have changed the world. The first award in 1969 was made jointly for two iconic innovations: to Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine that powers the Harrier Jump Jet and to Freeman, Fox and Partners for the aerodynamic deck design of the Severn Bridge. Subsequent winners have included the engineers behind advances ranging from catalytic converters and the roof of the Millennium Dome to intelligent prosthetic limbs.
Ted Humble-Smith says: “Photography is a special way of storytelling. It is a magical way to work, you have one moment to tell the tale, and you have to get everything you are telling in the story in one image. A hard task normally, but especially hard when the stories are big and complicated. All the MacRobert Award winning innovations are incredibly complicated, so when working on a project like this, you have to go through a sort of distillation process to get across something that people can understand. For me it was incredibly exciting to start with an innovation, then go back and do the research, taking the opportunity to meet the engineers who worked on these projects and then planning how to capture that story in a single image.”
Notes for editors
- Edinburgh Science Festival’s Innovation Late, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is from30 on Monday 8 April at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Last remaining tickets at https://www.edinburghscience.co.uk/event/innovation-late-with-lady-macrobert/
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