A Creative Transition

It’s clear that with oil shortages and climate change, our way of life is going to change radically. 

Getting back into balance with the planet will require a transition as drastic and potentially as traumatic as the Industrial Revolution, says Bill Graham, former Technical Director of the TI Group Research Laboratories.

But, he shows, we may be able to jump ahead of existing technologies and create novel solutions to some of our key problems and apply them in rural and island areas.

A particularly important aspect of this talk is the way in which it moves from the strategic to the practical. Bill Graham sets the scene with a clear analysis of the global challenge in energy and resources, and shows the resulting areas for action.  He applies the thinking to the Highlands, to show how radical solutions may be found for challenges in key areas like housing and energy-efficiency.

The TI Group Laboratories at Hinxton Hall near Cambridge were recognised as an outstanding centre of industrial research. They were set up in the 1950s by the Tube Investments Group of metal manufacturers as part of an unprecedented national emergence of industrial science laboratories in post-War Britain.

The overall Director for a number of years was Sir James Menter, who pioneered the use of electron microscopy for studying the atomic structure of crystalline materials such as metals.

‘Under his leadership the group of young scientists attracted to work with him at Hinxton quickly established an international reputation for research, not only of great fundamental importance in the theory of solid structures but also highly relevant to the metallurgical industry,’ records one account.

Amongst the many successes of the laboratories was the development of superplastic aluminium, which was carried out by a multidisciplinary team.

Bill's talk will take place on:

Friday 7 November, 7:30pm, The Community Hall, Applecross

Click here to go to the main programme page