Lifetime achievements of former Rector celebrated

Eric Ash celebrates 80th birthday amongst old colleagues, friends and students – News

By Colin Smith
Wednesday 20 February 2008

The lifetime achievements of a distinguished academic were celebrated at a ceremony marking his 80th birthday this month.

Sir Eric Ash, Rector of Imperial College London 1985-1993, was warmly welcomed by past colleagues, friends and students at a seminar and birthday dinner hosted by Imperial’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the Royal Society.

Professor Christofer Toumazou, Director of the Institute and the evening’s keynote speaker, told 160 guests that Sir Eric had played a pivotal role in the development of the College as a world leading university.

“Sir Eric cemented the relationship between Imperial College's science and engineering and the medical school based at St Mary’s during his tenure as Rector. His early efforts helped lay the foundations for the merger of the two institutions,” he said.

Sir Eric also played an important role in establishing multidisciplinary research between engineering and medicine. His work with the Bagrit Trust, a charitable organisation established in memory of the distinguished engineer Sir Leon Bagrit, lay the foundations for the Centre for Biological and Medical Systems - later renamed the Department of Bioengineering.

“His pioneering efforts in developing the department later on provided a springboard for me to establish the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, which is now breaking new ground in the field of personalised healthcare, and is a true complement to the Department of Bioengineering,” said Professor Toumazou.

Sir Eric has a long history with Imperial, studying at the College as both an undergraduate and postgraduate in electrical engineering and working under Nobel Prize winner Denis Gabor as a PhD student. He went on to become a professor and head of University College London's Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Five of his former PhD students attended the dinner to pay tribute to their old supervisor. Eric Yeatman, now a professor in Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, fondly reminisced about his time as one of his last PhD students, and the only one to be supervised by him at the College.

Professor Yeatman, who specialises in microengineering, said Sir Eric was a great researcher and always good at finding interesting problems for his students to work on. He said Sir Eric had a knack for getting to the heart of a scientific problem and also spoke about the social aspect of their relationship.

“I was often invited to make up the numbers at dinner parties held by Sir Eric. I remember well being a young scruffy PhD student sitting amongst much older and more eminent company. They were interesting and happy occasions,” he said.

After speeches from distinguished guests including Sir Roy Anderson, Rector-Elect of Imperial, and Professor Colin Caro of Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, Sir Eric was presented with a vintage bottle of port. The College has also made a donation in Sir Eric’s name to the Royal College of Music’s ‘Restore a Score’ scheme. The donation will conserve a copy of Beethoven's Violin Concerto.