William Cawthorne Unwin, 1838 - 1933

Abstract

The death of William Gawthorne Unwin marks the end of a significant phase in the history of modern engineering. He was one of the last of that distinguished band of pioneers who by example and by teaching helped to bridge the gulf that had for ages existed between the study of abstract science and its practical application in engineering. His career covered the whole period during which engineering became gradually recognized as a branch of science. It is difficult now to realize that at the time when Unwin’s engineering studies began, informed opinion was inclined still to regard as “ vulgar and sordid ” the application of science to practical engineering. Such a state of affairs at so recent a date may well astonish us, although Rankine, in the celebrated introduction to his volume on Applied Mechanics, describes how wide was the gulf fixed between the ideal and the practical by the philosophers of ancient times.