Sir Diarmuid Downs (23 April 1922 – 12 February 2014[1]) was a British automotive engineer.
Downs was born in 1922 in London, where his father ran a small engineering business manufacturing equipment for the oil industry. Downs was educated at Gunnersbury Catholic Grammar School and the Regent Street Polytechnic, London.[2] He then studied at Northampton Engineering College, London, where he graduated with First Class honours in 1942. He won a postgraduate bursary for further research and study, which he took up with Ricardo and Co.
For his first 15 years with Ricardo & Co., first as student, then as a member of staff, and from 1947 as Head of the Petrol Engine Department, Downs pursued a study of fundamental study of abnormal combustion phenomena in the petrol engine, resulting in a clearer understanding of the problems of knock and pre-ignition.
Downs was made a Director of Ricardo in 1957. He was made managing director ten years later, remaining in this position until 1984. He was chairman of the company from 1976 to 1987.[3]
Downs served as President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1978 and as President of FISITA, the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies, from 1978 to 1980.[4] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1985.[5] He was elected a Fellow[6] for the Royal Academy of Engineering.[7]
More details can be found in the Bibliographical Memoirs of Fellows of The Royal Society published in 2019.[8]
