engineering

William George Nicholson Geddes

William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes rather than just read about it. In short: William George Nicholson Geddes (29 July 1913 – 10 November 1993) was a Scottish civil engineer. Life George Geddes was born in Oldhamstocks, East Lothian the son of Ina Nicholson and her husband, William Brydon Geddes.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

William George Nicholson Geddes (29 July 1913 – 10 November 1993) was a Scottish civil engineer.

Life George Geddes was born in Oldhamstocks, East Lothian the son of Ina Nicholson and her husband, William Brydon Geddes. His early education was at Dunbar Grammar School. He studied civil engineering at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BSc in 1934 and gaining a "blue" in football. He worked for the City Engineer in Edinburgh, then Sir William Arrol & Company, and F.A. Macdonald & Partners under William Fairhurst, before joining Babtie, Shaw and Morton in 1942. He became a partner of the firm in 1950 and senior partner from 1976 to 1978. His specialist experience was structural engineering which led to an interest in hydro-electric projects, dams, shipyards, docks and industrial developments. One of Geddes' most notable projects, under the overall direction of James Arthur Banks and later constructed by the contractor Marples Ridgway, was his contribution to the design of the Allt na Lairige dam in Argyllshire in the 1950s. This was the first concrete dam in western Europe, and possibly the world, to be prestressed by using high tensile steel bars, bolted either end, to compress the structure. Later Geddes was in charge of Backwater Dam, the first in the UK to use a chemical grout cut-off. One of his outstanding achievements was the major shipbuilding dock at the head of the Musgrave Channel in Belfast for Harland and Wolff. The dock was the largest in the World when it was completed in 1970, having been designed and built scarcely two years after the decision was taken to proceed. In 1975, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Hugh Sutherland, William Thomas Marshall, Ian Sneddon, Anthony Cusens, Robert Simpson Silver and Arnold Hendry. As well as being active in Scottish branches of professional institutions, he was elected President of all three of the Institutions in which he took a keen interest: the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1971–72, the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland 1977–79, and the Institution of Civil Engineers between November 1979 and November 1980. In 1975, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978. In 1980, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Edinburgh.

Family Geddes was married to Margaret Gilchrist Wilson in 1941.

Football Geddes was an accomplished footballer, playing for Queen's Park F.C. in 1936, and serving from 1985 to 1988 as their President and eventually becoming a patron of the club, the oldest club in Scotland.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William George Nicholson Geddes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes

In research: William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes 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: William George Nicholson Geddes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1913 births, 1993 deaths, 20th-century British civil engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is William George Nicholson Geddes in simple terms?

William George Nicholson Geddes (29 July 1913 – 10 November 1993) was a Scottish civil engineer. Life George Geddes was born in Oldhamstocks, East Lothian the son of Ina Nicholson and her husband, William Brydon Geddes.

Why does William George Nicholson Geddes 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 William George Nicholson Geddes?

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 William George Nicholson Geddes.