John P Paul
FF, FE, University of Strathclyde, UK
Deceased

Professor Paul studied at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow (which became the University of Strathclyde) leading to a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Glasgow. He obtained his PhD under the same arrangement between the 2 institutions. His thesis was concerned with the measurement of the forces in the hip joint during walking. This work was greatly received because it followed John Charnley’s first successful hip joint replacement.

The gait work at Strathclyde began after a visit by Inman’s Berkeley team. Notable developments were the 3D Vicon motion analysis system, designed by Prof. Paul with his PhD students, Mick Jarrett and Brian Andrews. Other important contributions were made by Jim, Morrison, Stefan Solomonides and Sandy Nichol.

Prof. Paul was head of the Wolfson Bioengineering unit at the University of Strathclyde from 1982 until 1995, and was president of the International Society for Biomechanics from 1987 to 1989 and delivered the Muybridge Lecture’ to open the Biannual meeting of that Society in Tokyo.