engineering

Richard Pike

Richard Pike is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard Pike rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Andrew Pike FRSC (2 April 1950 – 23 July 2011) was the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) from 2006 to 2011. Education He attended Gosport County Grammar School (which became the comprehensive, Bay House School, in 1972).

Key takeaways

Richard Pike belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard Pike to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard Pike from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Andrew Pike FRSC (2 April 1950 – 23 July 2011) was the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) from 2006 to 2011.

Education He attended Gosport County Grammar School (which became the comprehensive, Bay House School, in 1972). From Downing College, Cambridge he gained a 1st Class BA in Engineering in 1971, and later in 1977 gained a PhD. His PhD research work investigated experimental and theoretical aspects of vapour bubble dynamics in boiling, focusing on the thermal and fluid characteristics of water and organic liquids in various gravitational fields, including Earth and zero gravity.

Career From being sponsored as an undergraduate, he had an almost 25-year career in BP, during which time he held a number of technical and commercial positions. These included Technical Manager of the Sullom Voe Terminal in Shetland, Scotland (then Europe's largest oil and gas processing facility), and General Manager, Chemicals, BP Far East. During this latter posting he was also appointed President, BP Chemicals, Japan, and Director, Samsung-BP Chemicals, South Korea. After leaving Japan, Pike was for five years Director General of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and Executive Vice Chairman, Professional Engineering Publishing. He later moved to become Senior Associate at Gaffney, Cline & Associates, advising on corporate strategy within the oil and gas industry, and leading international technical, commercial and organisational assignments throughout the energy supply chain, from reservoir management to processing facilities, petrochemicals and power. He was also non-executive Director of Chemistry Innovation Ltd., the corporate vehicle for the Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network (CIKTN). In February 2006 he was appointed as the Chief Executive of the RSC, which he resigned from in February 2011. Pike was a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Engineer, and was elected Fellow of six learned bodies: Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Physics, Energy Institute, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institution of Chemical Engineers and Institution of Electrical Engineers (now Engineering and Technology). Pike was also a former recipient of the 'Award to Excellence' from the Institution of Plant Engineers, and a Freeman of the City of London. He authored numerous papers in the fields of science, education and training, engineering, and energy and climate change. In February 2010, he criticised so-called Mickey Mouse university degrees. He died on 23 July 2011.

Other interests A keen linguist and sportsman, Pike was President of the Cambridge University Anglo-Japanese Society, and in 1980 was the first person to swim between the most northerly islands of the British Isles, in Shetland, raising funds for medical research.

References

External links Royal Society of Chemistry RSC Blog Obituary in The Telegraph

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard Pike

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard Pike claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard Pike before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard Pike ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard Pike

In research: Richard Pike appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard Pike in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard Pike is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950 births, 2011 deaths, Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard Pike outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard Pike in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard Pike means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard Pike out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard Pike in simple terms?

Richard Andrew Pike FRSC (2 April 1950 – 23 July 2011) was the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) from 2006 to 2011. Education He attended Gosport County Grammar School (which became the comprehensive, Bay House School, in 1972).

Why does Richard Pike matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard Pike?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard Pike.