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Adrian Bowyer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adrian Bowyer
MBE
Born1952
London, England
Alma materImperial College London
Known forRepRap, Voronoi Diagram
Websiteadrianbowyer.com

Adrian Bowyer /ˈbjər/ MBE is an English engineer and mathematician, formerly an academic at the University of Bath.

Life and works

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Bowyer talking about the RepRap Project at Poptech 2007

Born in 1952 in London, Bowyer is the older child of the late Rosemary and John Bowyer; the latter was a writer, painter and one of the founders of Zisman, Bowyer and Partners, consulting engineers. Bowyer was educated at Woodroffe School,[1] Lyme Regis and Imperial College London.

In 1977 he joined the Mathematics Department at the University of Bath. Shortly after that he received a doctorate from Imperial College London for research in friction-induced vibration. Whilst working in the Mathematics Department he invented (at the same time as David Watson) the algorithm for computing Voronoi diagrams that bears their names (the Bowyer–Watson algorithm).

A timelapse video of a robot model (logo of Make magazine) being printed using fused deposition modeling on a RepRapPro Fisher printer, a company that Bowyer was a director of.

He then spent twenty-two years as a lecturer then senior lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Bath. He retired from academic life in 2012, though he is still a director of the company RepRap Ltd.[2] He invented the RepRap Project – an open-source 3D printer that can produce plastic parts, including all such parts for a copy of itself.[3] The Guardian said of this, "[RepRap] has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment..."[4]

In 2017 Bowyer received the 3D Printing Industry Outstanding Contribution to 3D Printing Award[5] and was inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame.[6] He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to 3D Printing.

His wife is a retired school teacher; they have one adult daughter.

References

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  1. ^ http://www.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk/ Woodroffe School
  2. ^ http://reprapltd.com RepRap Ltd
  3. ^ Jones, Rhys; Haufe, Patrick; Sells, Edward; Iravani, Pejman; Olliver, Vik; Palmer, Chris; Bowyer, Adrian (14 January 2011). "RepRap – the replicating rapid prototyper". Cambridge University Press. 29 (1): 177–191. doi:10.1017/S026357471000069X. ISSN 0263-5747.
  4. ^ Put your feet up, Santa, the Christmas machine has arrived, James Randerson at The Guardian, 25 November 2006.
  5. ^ Jackson, Beau (22 May 2017). "3D Printing Industry Awards winners announced". 3D Printing Industry.
  6. ^ "Hall Of Fame". TCT Awards 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
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