MACHINERY LUBRICATION- INDIA SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 | Page 20

INSPIRATION
needed a range of skills from scientific
disciplines other than mechanical
engineering – including chemistry and
materials science, solid body mechanics
and physics. By applying tribology to
machine design, Jost and his team
calculated that British industry could
save £500 million a year as a result of
fewer
breakdowns
causing
low
production; lower energy consumption;
reduced maintenance costs; and longer
machine life.
Appointed CBE in 1969, Jost was
honoured by the heads of state of
France, Germany, Poland, Austria and
Japan, and in 1992 he became the first
honorary foreign member of the Russia
Academy of Engineering. He held two
honorary professorships and 11
honorary doctorates including, in
January 2000, the first Millennium
honorary science doctorate.
Jost report led to the setting up of several
national tribology centres in Britain,
though initially it was Britain's
competitors who took the ball and ran
with it. By the late 1980s Britain was
lagging behind the US, Germany and
Japan.
A press release from five learned societies
announcing the creation of a UK
Tribology Network to promote best
practice observed that while Britain has
a strong academic and industrial
tribology base, “due to the fragmentation
of activity within the UK the impact on
reducing the very high cost (circa 1.4 per
cent of GDP) of uncontrolled friction,
lubrication, surface selection and wear-
control within industry has been
limited.”
Although tribology was a relatively new
science, Jost argued that the principles
behind it had been around for centuries.
“If in the days of Newton, bananas had
been available and Newton had slipped
on one of them, the laws of tribology
would have been enunciated by him
there and then,” he told an interviewer.
“Instead, it is said that an apple fell on
him while he was asleep under the tree,
and the laws of gravity resulted from
there.” In 2009, he co-launched the
concept of Green Tribology, paving the
way for the first Green Tribology World
Congress with 2,000 attendees.
He elected as an honorary fellow at
International Tribology Council and
World Tribology Congress but sadly
passed away before he could formally
take up his fellowship. Peter Jost died on
7 June 2016 and left behind his wife
Margaret and daughters Jennifer and
Gillian. Peter was truly a kind and great
man who is been sorely missed.
In an age in which new
technologies are cascading upon
us at an increasing pace,
recognition of the effects of multi
disciplinary generic technologies,
such as tribology, is essential to
evolve sound policies for
tomorrow’s engineering. I am
proud to be only the ninth
recipient of this honour since its
inception, looking upon it as a
manifestation that the Academy is
a forward looking body in our
rapidly changing world.”
- Dr. Peter Jost
18 | September - October 2019 |
www.machinerylubricationindia.com
DID YOU KNOW…?
q Professor Jost authored more than
150 publications and had been
Honorary Editor of Springer’s peer-
reviewed international journal,
Friction.
q He had been honoured in 18
countries and received state
recognition from six. He held
Honorary Fellowships from 11
national professional engineering
or tribological bodies.
q
He was a member of the
Parliamentary and Scientific
Committee for over 25 years and
served
many
technology
committees.
q He had received the Royal Academy
of
Engineering
Sustained
Achievement Award in 2013 and
had been awarded honorary
doctorates at six UK and five
international universities.
q
He served numerous industry
councils, and until his death he was
the president of International
Tribology Council and a life
member of the council of the
Parliamentary
&
Scientific
Committee.
“
Applying tribology saves energy and
improves the reliability of systems like
engines, gearboxes, human joint
implants, manufacturing processes and
ship propulsion. Having articulated the
concept, Peter comprehensively
practised and promoted it. Sixty years
on, his influence on world-wide adoption
is unabated.”
- Dr Ian Nussey OBE FREng
(The one who nominated Dr Jost for the award)