Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month in the East Horsley Village Hall, Kingston Avenue, KT24 6QT, off the B2039 just south of Horsley Railway Station, (OS Ref. TQ090542; phone 01483 285019). The meetings normally start at 10:15 for coffee. Partners are welcome; no attendance fee is payable. Parking at the Hall is very restricted and members are requested to make best use of the space available.
Technical meetings are indicated below by #. Funding assistance is supplied by the IET.
The programme for earlier years can be found here: 2010, 2011, 2012.
The committee tries to determine the programme for some time in the future. Inevitably it it possible that talks many months ahead may be subject to change.
| 2013 | ||
| June 5th | Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Nuclear Power # The massive earthquake off the coast of Japan on 11th March 2011 triggered a tsunami which traversed the Pacific Ocean but its greatest effect was on the coastal regions of South Eastern Japan where over 19,000 people were killed and more were rendered homeless. Many villages, towns and industries were wiped out. The coast was also the location of two major nuclear power stations which were severely damaged and partly ceased operation. This talk describes what happened and why and reviews the current situation and the consequences, not only for the people of Japan, but also for the power industry internationally. |
John Steel, RMS Member |
| July 3rd 2.30pm Cream Tea | A Tudor gentleman in Surrey - Sir William More of Loseley |
Michael Page, Team Manager, Heritage Stewardship and Preservation |
| August 7th | The CN Tower The construction of the CN tower in 1975 in pictures and anecdotes. A description of the broadcasting equipment contained therein. |
Colin Sunderland |
| September 4th | Why did television screens get slimmer? -- How patents
aided the successful commercial development of organic light
emitting diodes (OLEDs). # Deborah will give an outline of Intellectual Property (IP) law and describe its application to organic copolymer light emitting diode (OLED) development in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, and how patents influence the commercial success of innovation. She will conclude with a technological history of this, illustrated by published patent specifications. |
Deborah Sewagudde BSc in Biochemistry, MSc in Management of Intellectual Property, Certificate in Intellectual Property Law Legal consultant with Calleja Consulting and Research Associate at Queen Mary IP Research Institute, University of London. |
| October 2nd | A history of the cavity magnetron # The cavity magnetron was a famous invention in England in 1940 which is generally held to have made an important contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. In considering why this is so, many interlinked factors are involved: science, invention, industry, government, warfare, both traditional and electronic - and also domestic cookers, which eventually become the unforeseen application in most people's kitchens, to this day. Nearly everyone has a magnetron, tucked into their 'microwave', even if they don't know it. This account will try to tease out this complicated story, and look for some general conclusions. |
Alan Reddish After a Physics degree in Manchester in 1949, two years National Service as an RAF Education Officer (teaching basic electronics), and a brief flirtation with the fantasy of becoming a professional musician(!), Alan joined the GEC Research Laboratories in Wembley in 1952 - it became the Hirst Research Centre some years later. Alan was a member of the Valve Division, in the the group that had been responsible for magnetron development and production during the war, and was continuing with microwave valve topics. Alan soon become involved with the 'M-carcinotron', a French invention derived from the magnetron which proved to be very important for radar countermeasures. That occupied him throughout the 'fifities; in the 'sixties the topics expanded to include novel microwave tube ideas, and into plasmas, lasers and solid-state devices. |
| November 6th | Surrey Safari A good introduction to Geoff and his passion. The first quarter of this presentation comprises mainly photographs of birds and other wildlife taken in the garden. It then spreads out into the local countryside for the more wary animals and birds. Some amusing and light-hearted stories are included. |
Geoff Lunn (an amateur photographer specialising in Natural History who took early retirement enabling him to pursue his hobby of photography). |
| December 4th | Tales of Air to Air Refuelling and the Falklands Handley Page Victor # The presentation starts with a history of air to air refuelling from the 1920's to post WW2 and the 1950's including the inroads Alan Cobham made into the US Air Force. The story then moves to the development of V Force Tankers and the MK2 Handley Page Victor, some of the ground breaking technology, and associated flying stories of the presenters experience in 'tanking'. The second part begins with the RAF's biggest refuelling mission 'Black Buck' during the Falklands war and concludes with what is happening today. |
Squadron Leader Jim Barnes RAF Ret'd Jim Barnes trained for three years in Radar and Radio systems before beginning a flying career as an RAF Air Electronics Officer in the 'V' Force. He did two flying tours on Vulcan bombers with 617 (Dambusters) Squadron as part of the nuclear deterrent during the cold war. He was fortunate to meet Barnes Wallis and the Dambusters and has studied the development of aircraft and the Dams raid. |
Past Meetings
| 2013 | ||
| May 1st | Parliament Building - The Great Clock and Big Ben
# How the tower, clock and bell came to be built, the repairs needed since 2000, and how these were carried out, without the benefit of the original design drawings!. |
Mike McCann, MSc BEng(Hons) CEng MInstE, |
| April 3rd | Bailey: the bridge and the man # An account of the development of the Bailey bridge at the start of the last war, its predecessor bridges and subsequent developments up to and including the present Afghan campaign. |
Martin Stoneham, Chairman, Friends of the Royal Engineers' Museum at Chatham |
| January 2nd | Glass - its history and technology # Don invited us to take a light hearted voyage through the land of his ancestors, Lorraine. He traced the development of window glass from there, and the society in which it was crafted. Eventually problems drove skilled persons with the gift of making glass to England. There they prospered for a while under Elizabeth's monopoly until a new prohibition hit them. The story of window glass ends with the recent invention of Float Glass. |
Don Tyzack, RMS Member |
| February 6th | The Evolution of Personal Mobile Communications Services 1960-2020 # It seems inconceivable that mobile communications is barely 50 years old. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of how mobile communications have changed our lives. From the ability to make and receive calls almost anywhere in the world, seamlessly, to be able to access the internet while on the move. Of the number of inventions of the last 50 years mobile communications must be near the top in the effect it has had on people's lives. The presentation charts the progress from the early radio telephone and pagers services, 1st generation analogue personal mobiles through to modern 4G digital and smart phone apps. The talk also gives a flavour of what we can expect in the future and explores the societal changes that have occurred with the advent of near universal use of mobile devices. |
Stephen Hearnden, Director, Telecommunications and Technology, Intellect |
| March 6th | Being an expert witness From time to time we see in the press references (usually in controversial cases) to the evidence given by Expert Witness. What is an Expert? How does one become an Expert Witness? What does an Expert Witness do? What should an Expert witness not do? Is there a difference between Civil and Criminal cases? What are the difficulties? What are the pitfalls? David, who worked as an expert witness in the electrical field for nearly 20 years, explained all these things and illustrated his talk with references to cases (and the difficulties and potential pitfalls) in which he has been involved |
David Latimer, RMS Member |