Arthur Roderick Collar
Arthur Roderick Collar | |
|---|---|
Vice-chancellor of the University of Bristol | |
| In office 1968–1969 | |
| Preceded by | John E. Harris |
| Succeeded by | Sir Alec Merrison |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 February 1908 West Ealing, England |
| Died | 12 February 1986 (aged 77) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Profession | Scientist Engineer |
Arthur Roderick Collar
Early life and education
Arthur Roderick Collar was born in
Career
After graduating from Cambridge, Collar joining the Aerodynamics Department at the
From 1936 to 1980, Collar was an active member of the Aeronautical Research Committee (later Council), serving in various roles on the Council and its subcommittees; from 1964 to 1968 he was its chairman. During World War II, Collar led an aeroelasticity research team at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, where according to Bishop the "main work of Collar's section was to try to alleviate or prevent the adverse effects of elastic distortion in aircraft – those of loss of control, vibration and flutter."[6][7]
After the war Collar "visited German research establishments and scientists", according to Bishop, to exchange information about new advances in aeronautics. In 1946, Collar was appointed to the newly established Sir George White Chair of Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University. While at Bristol, he served as Dean of the Engineering Faculty from 1954 to 1957, and in 1968–69 acted as Vice-Chancellor. Bishop describes him as a "remarkably successful" administrator who had a "positive love of productive committee work" and an "urbane and thoroughly informed approach" to such work. He was made an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1969 and retired in 1973, becoming Professor Emeritus.[6][7]
Other professional activities
Collar was Chairman of Council of Rolls-Royce Technical College from 1969 to 1983. He also was on the Advisory Council of the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham from 1964 to 1980, and chairman of the Council from 1970 to 1978. He belonged to the Clifton College Council from 1969 to 1979, was on the Council of the Royal Society from 1971 to 1973, and was on the Academic Advisory Council of Cranfield Institute of Technology from 1970 to 1975. He was a Governor of United Bristol Hospital from 1968 to 1974 and a member of the Southwest Regional Hospital Board from 1969 to 1974.[6]
Books and other publications
Collar's book Elementary Matrices and Some Applications to Dynamics and Differential Equations, written with Robert Alexander Frazer and William Jolly Duncan and published in 1938, quickly became a standard text in the field and is described as a "classic" in The Schur Complement and Its Applications by Fuzhen Zhang. Bishop calls it a "masterpiece", noting its many reprintings over several decades in Britain and the United States and its translations into other languages.[6][7][8]
He also wrote A Criterion for the Prevention of Spring-Tab Flutter, published by the Aeronautical Research Council.[9] His book Matrices and Engineering Dynamics, written with A. Simpson, was published posthumously.[6]
Collar published 23 papers in the R & M Series, and his paper "The expanding domain of aeroelasticity" was described as "'a chart and a compass' for all future aeroelastic work".[6]
Honours and awards
Collar and D. H. Williams jointly won the R38 Memorial Prize of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1932 when he was 24. He won the George Taylor Gold Medal in 1947, the Orville Wright Prize in 1958, and the J. E. Hodgson Prize in 1960.
Collar was named a
Bishop notes that Collar "achieved the unusual distinction of triple Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (1980), and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1984)."
Collar was invited to give the Lanchester Memorial Lecture in 1958.[6] In 1971, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.
Personal life
Collar married Winifred Margaret Charlotte (Bobbie) Moorman in June 1934. They had two sons, Martin and Nigel. Bobbie died in 1986.
Collar, according to Bishop, "was an active member of the Church of England, who could be described accurately as gentle but tough. His was essentially a Christian outlook that stood him in particularly good stead in times of difficulty. In short, he was a born leader, though he was by no means instrusive." He also describes Collar as "a very entertaining raconteur....In general conversation...there was rarely a dull moment and he had a great fund of quotations, particularly from W. S. Gilbert." Also, "he was an excellent speaker with an enviable gift of spontaneity." His colleagues, furthermore, credited Collar with helping them to write better English.
Bishop notes that Collar's outside interests "were both substantial and numerous", including "games and puzzles, reading, poetry, music and....watching tennis, football (of both varieties) and cricket."[6]
References
- JSTOR 769949.
- ^ Collar, A. R. (1978). "The first fifty years of aeroelasticity". Aerospace. 2. 5: 12–20.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40052. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.) Collar, (Arthur) Roderick (1908–1986)
- .
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- ^ S2CID 71821734.
- ^ a b c d e f "Catalogue of papers and correspondence of Arthur Roderick Collar FRS (1908–1986". National Archives.
- ISBN 9780387242712.
- ^ A Criterion for the Prevention of Spring-Tab Flutter – via Amazon UK.
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