Seeing the invisible

The Shoda Memorial Lecture from Professor Hugh McCann FREng, FRSE, FIET, CEng

Speaking in 1883 about understanding scientific phenomena, Lord Kelvin advocated experimental measurement as the fundamental basis for progress. The challenges that our society faces in the 21st century require us to “see inside” complex engineering machinery. Inspired by the success of medical imaging methods such as X-Ray CT and MRI scanning, scientists and engineers worldwide are now developing tomographic methods to penetrate critical processes inside a huge variety of equipment, ranging from chemical production plant to aero gas turbine engines.