Professor Emeritus Colin William Davidson BSc PhD HonFIET, 1934 - 2020
Published: Thu 22 Oct 2020
Colin Davidson died on 8 October 2020. Colin was well known in the field of Electrical Engineering Education, was twice appointed as Head of Department of Electrical Engineering at Heriot-Watt University and served twice as Dean of the Engineering Faculty. He was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for over sixty years and served on or chaired many of its Boards and Committees.
He was Chairman of the Scottish Centre and the Science, Education and Technology Division. He was elected as a Vice-President and served as Honorary Treasurer. He served as secretary for a group of members who objected to Bye-law changes in connection with the merger of the IEE and the IIE in 2006, which led to further Bye-law amendments approved by the membership in the following year.
His leadership skills and democratic values in life were to the fore in the successful outcome at the 2006 SGM. For services to the profession, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the IEE in 1999. He was also a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers of the City of London and a Freeman of the City of London. He served on the Senate of the Engineering Council.
Colin was the youngest of four children of William Boston Davidson, an Executive Engineer with the then General Post Office and his wife Jane (née Donaldson). From his father, he learned skills in engineering and radio and went on to become a licensed radio amateur.
He was educated at George Heriot's School and the University of Edinburgh. At Heriot's he was awarded the Miller Prize in Applied Science and later in his career he served as a Governor. At Edinburgh University he studied Electrical Engineering and was awarded medals in Mathematics and Electromagnetics.
He graduated with first-class honours and went on to study for a Diploma in Electronics and Radio, which was awarded with merit. He took up a post as a Research Associate but after a few months was appointed as a lecturer in the expanding electrical department, and he graduated with a PhD in microwave engineering in 1960.
In 1961 he left university and took up an appointment in industry as an electronics engineer with Nuclear Enterprises (GB) Ltd., but after four years he was attracted back to the academic world, joining Heriot-Watt College as a lecturer when it had been designated as one of the new Scottish Universities.
Apart from a year of absence spent teaching at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, he remained at Heriot-Watt for the rest of his career. As Head of Department at the Watt, he was well respected by all members of the staff, academic, technical and clerical, and by those, he was involved with as an IEE/IET interviewer. If anyone needed some assistance, he would go out of his way to help them.
Along with one of his colleagues at Edinburgh University, he attended a sailing course at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms and together they bought a racing dinghy, which started his sailing career. Through sailing, he met his wife Ranee and they spent their honeymoon racing in their Yachting World catamaran at the centenary regatta of the Royal Danish Yacht Club, held off Copenhagen, where they came second in their class. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Outside his professional activities, he served the wider community as an elected member of Lothian Regional Council and, more recently, as Chairman of Craignish Community Council and as Company Secretary for the new Argyll Community Housing Association. In connection with sailing, he served in various capacities for the Royal Highland Yacht Club and as Secretary & Treasurer for the West Highland Anchorages and Moorings Association, which aims to protect our west coast anchorages.