Professor Bertram Hopkinson (1874-1918)

Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics, 1903-1918

Bertram Hopkinson

"Tall, of a commanding presence, with immense physical strength and energy, with ripe engineering experience and great originality of mind…he commanded respect and confidence in all those who worked with him."
James Alfred Ewing on Hopkinson

Bertram Hopkinson was the eldest son of John Hopkinson who had died so tragically in a mountaineering accident in 1898. Having read mathematics at Trinity in 1893-96, Bertram trained as a patent lawyer until his father's death at which point he decided to carry on his father's work in engineering and technological education. He was only twenty-nine when the Chair of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics became vacant at Cambridge, following Ewing's resignation in 1903. He applied and was appointed, having already a considerable professional reputation.