SMEATON 300
Image: © Science Museum / Science and Society Picture Library. This resource is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.
PAST - The Society held a 300th Birthday lunch in University House, the University of Leeds, on 30th October 2024. We were joined by Her Royal Highness (member and past president of the Society), the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, the High Sheriff of West Yorkshire, the Lord Mayor of Leeds and a number of people who have contributed to the celebrations during the 300th anniversary year of Smeaton's birth. During the lunch, the Society's annual Smeaton Medal was presented to Stephen Shapcott by Her Royal Highness and Julia Elton (member) gave a short talk about Smeaton's life.
PAST - 8th June 2024 was the 300th Anniversary of the birth of John Smeaton, in Austhorpe, Leeds. The Smeatonian Society will be celebrating this year with a focus on Leeds and is aiming to provide information about events organised in 2024 to celebrate his career. If you are aware of any Smeaton - related events that do not appear below, please us the Contact Us page to provide us with information for inclusion here.
PAST - The Institution of Civil Engineers will be holding an event "The life and works of John Smeaton in Cornwall and beyond" in Truro on 17th July 2024. Click here for details.
PAST - Heriot-Watt University have announced a John Smeaton International Symposium on Innovations in Civil Engineering (JSISICE-300) which will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, on Monday 2nd September 2024. One page abstracts of potential submissions are invited by 10th July 2024 to smeaton300@hw.ac.uk
Blog by First Class Member Gordon Masterton about the rivalry between Smeaton and Watt in the race to improve the steam engine..
Article in the York Press by Graham Wilford about "The man who supplied 1700s York with Drinking Water"
PAST - On 7th June 2024, the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society celebrated the birth of the 'Father of Civil Engineering' with a lecture at St Mary's Whitkirk Community Centre at 7:30pm.
The Institution of Civil Engineers will be posting a series of Smeaton-related blogs during 2024.
PAST - The Institution of Civil Engineers organised a two part lecture on 24th February in Pontefract entitled "The life and achievements of John Smeaton: from Austhorpe to outer space".
PAST - St Mary's Church, Whitkirk (where Smeaton is buried) held a service to commemorate his life on 8th June 2024.
East Leeds History and Archaeology Society has produced a short essay about John Smeaton.
The Thoresby Society features information on John Smeaton on their website.
The Royal Gunpowder Mills, an industrial heritage site in Waltham Abbey, Essex, is hosting talks and activities on their open days to celebrate their connection to Smeaton who worked on the site. Details of the events are listed on this link.
PAST - Immediate Past President of the Society, Professor George Fleming, gave a lecture in Glasgow on 4th June 2024 to celebrate 'The World's First Civil Engineer' and describe Smeaton's work and why it is still relevant today. Click here for more details.
PAST - The Alston Moor Historical Society covered "John Smeaton and Alston Moor" at their meeting on Wednesday 5th June. Click here for details.