Professor Roderick Smith, FREng

Professor Rod Smith died on 26 December 2024, his 77th birthday, in a tragic walking accident whilst descending from Grisedale Tarn after an enjoyable family walk in his much-loved Lake District. He started his engineering training as a student apprentice with the David Brown Corporation of Huddersfield in 1967 and proceeded to obtain a undergraduate degree in Engineering Science at St. John’s College, Oxford and a PhD degree in 1974 from the Engineering Department at Cambridge University, where Professor Keith Miller was his supervisor. Rod then had a long and distinguished academic career at Cambridge, Sheffield and Imperial. He was Head of Department of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial from 2000 to 2005. He was an expert in the cyclic fatigue failure of metals, especially in connection with the rail industry. He was heavily involved in the Hatfield Rail Crash Inquiry. The crash happened shortly after he joined the Department and his high standing in the industry meant that he was asked to take part in the inquiry. This raised the profile of the Department but was also very time consuming so ultimately he stepped down as Head in order to devote more time to his railway work. He was a Past President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Transport. During his period as a Trustee of the Science Museum, he was instrumental in bringing a Japanese Bullet train to the National Railway Museum in York. He loved the mountains, climbing all the Lakeland Wainwrights and had led expeditions to Greenland, Arctic Norway, the Himalayas and the Karakoram. He was a proud member of the Fell and Rock Club, the Alpine Club, the Arctic Club and the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club. His extensive knowledge of engineering problems and operational methods relating to the rail industry will be sorely missed, as will his entertaining and informative lectures on all aspects of the rail industry. Rod will also be much missed as a cordial and independent-minded colleague who regretted having to set aside his pipe-smoking, and who was always ready to discuss the merits of his favourite football team, Manchester United.


Professor Tony Kinloch, FREng FRS
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial

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