John Paul

John Paul was raised in Old Kilpatrick, Scotland. He studied as a school boy at Alan Glen’s School a secondary school in Glasgow. As an undergraduate he studied mechanical engineering at the Royal College of Science and Technology. In 1962 he was a founding member of the Bioengineering Unit at the Royal College of Science and Technology. In 1964 the Royal College merged with the Scottish College of Commerce to form the University of Strathclyde. He was to remain at the University for the rest of his career, and was the head of their Bioengineering Unit from 1977 to 1992. Early in his stay at the University of Strathclyde he formed a collaboration with an orthopaedic surgeon who wanted to design assistance for pins to secure fractured femurs. This project spurred his research on the forces transmitted by bones. His work in this area became a classic source. He went on to perform fundamental work on prosthesis design. In acknowledgement of his many research achievements the ISB awarded him the Muybridge Medal in 1997. Invited lectures included the joint Royal Academy of Engineering/ Royal Society of Edinburgh meeting in 1977, the Carl Hirsch Lecture of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm in 1995, Institution of Mechanical Engineering Donald Julius Groen Lecture in 1991, and he was awarded the W.W. Marriner Medal of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland for his lecture in 2002. In recognition of his research and administrative achievements he was appointed an honorary member of the ISB. John passed away in 2013.