The Invention of Tribology: Peter Jost’s Contribution

Peter Jost is known to the international tribology community as the father of the subject—‘the man who made the world spin a little easier’. He was the author of the eponymous ‘Jost Report’, the report of the Working Group set up in 1964 to investigate the state of lubrication education and research...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLubricants Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 65
Main Author Williams, John
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2024
Subjects
Appointments & personnel changes
Apprenticeship
Careers
Design
Energy conversion efficiency
Engineers
Environmental sustainability
history
Lubricants & lubrication
Lubrication
Physics
Silver
Tribology
Working groups
United Kingdom
United Kingdom > UK
Germany
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Summary:Peter Jost is known to the international tribology community as the father of the subject—‘the man who made the world spin a little easier’. He was the author of the eponymous ‘Jost Report’, the report of the Working Group set up in 1964 to investigate the state of lubrication education and research in the UK. Over the following five decades, up to his death in 2016, he was tireless in extolling the importance of tribology to manufacturing efficiency, energy conversion and environmental sustainability. He was instrumental in establishing the International Tribology Council and its prestigious gold, silver and bronze medals. Jost was himself the recipient of numerous national and international awards. In 1976, he was the President of the Institution of Production Engineers, and in 2013, he received the Sustained Achievement Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering. What is less well known is the story behind the Jost report—what was it that led the recently elected Labour government and its newly established Ministry of Technology to investigate lubrication and to choose Jost to lead the investigating panel? The story illustrates the combination of serendipity and determination on which success can so often depend.
ISSN:2075-4442
2075-4442
DOI:10.3390/lubricants12030065