13 Facts About Anthony Michell

Anthony George Maldon Michell FRS was an Australian mechanical engineer of the early 20th century.

The family returned to Maldon, Victoria, in 1872, where young Anthony Michell attended one of the state primary schools newly established in that area.

Anthony Michell matriculated and spent one year as a non-collegiate student at Cambridge.

Anthony Michell then returned to University, and completed a Master of Civil Engineering degree in 1899.

In 1901 Anthony Michell invented a regenerative centrifugal pump, and in 1903 he invented the Cross-flow turbine.

Anthony Michell was named as one of 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.

In 1904 Anthony Michell published a paper on structural optimisation which is widely considered to be the seminal paper in the discipline.

Activity in this area only started to gain momentum some half century later, with the advent of electronic computers, and during his lifetime Anthony Michell would have been oblivious to the impact of his work in this field.

In 1920 Anthony Michell formed the Crankless Engines company to develop and manufacture engines with an intriguing design that eliminated the crankshaft found in most automotive and stationary engines.

In May 1934, Anthony Michell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the first year of his nomination.

Anthony Michell was the recipient of the James Watt International Medal in 1942 on the nomination of the Institution of Engineers, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the South African Institution of Engineers.

In 1950, at the age of eighty, Anthony Michell published his fine book on lubrication.

Anthony George Maldon Michell was a bachelor and lived in Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, until his death in 1959 at the age of eighty-eight.