Please help to promote this lecture.
The talk is open to any member of the public who wishes to attend.
Please feel free to circulate this invitation to interested individuals or groups.

Engineering Heritage Australia (Victoria)

Institution of Engineers, Australia         Engineering Heritage Branch
Bi-monthly Speakers' Program

A History of the Biomechanics of
Impact Injury

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Speaker:	Dr Laurence John Sparke, OAM Adjunct Professor, RMIT University
Where:	John Connell Auditorium, Engineering House, 21 Bedford Street, North Melbourne
When:	Light refreshments from 5.30pm. Talk will commence at 6.00 pm, and conclude at 7:00pm

The Talk:
In 1666 Isaac Newton observed an apple fall to ground. This led to his Theory of the Universe, published in 1687. In this work, considered to be the most influential book in the history of science, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics, which has dominated the scientific view of the physical universe and is the basis for modern engineering. For the past 420 years, engineering has been simply about improving the accuracy of our calculations.

There is one exception to this comfortable view. Since Leonardo daVinci's death-defying research into the function of the human body in the 1550s, little progress was made into understanding the physical properties of human material until the first experiments to measure human tolerance to loading conducted by John Stapp in 1950s. Rapid progress was made for two decades until activists intervened and stopped research using human surrogates. In recent years, Australia has made a major contribution to engineering knowledge by establishing Injury Assessment Functions for side impact loading to the human body.

The Guest Speaker:
Laurie Sparke is an engineering graduate from RMIT, and Deakin Universities in Melbourne and Kettering University in Michigan. He has worked in the automotive industry in Australia, America and Germany. He recently left Holden after more than 4 decades of distinguished service with the Australian car manufacturer. During this time his contributions to engineering and safety were acknowledged both in Australia and internationally. Dr Sparke is the engineer behind many of Holden's safety achievements, including being the first Australian car-maker to fit driver, passenger and side airbags. He also led the development of the hybrid-powered ECOmmodore and other fuel economy strategies. He now works as a consultant addressing the urgent need to reduce transport greenhouse emissions and manage reducing fuel availability.

	Presented By:	Engineering Heritage Australia (Victoria)
	Cost:	Free of Charge.
	Registration:	Not necessary.
	Professional    Development:	Depending on individual requirements, attendance at this session may qualify towards continuing professional development.
	Contact Details:	ehv@engineersaustralia.org.au
	Other Activities:	What's Going On

Engineering Heritage Victoria on-line at:           http://www.vicnet.net.au/~engherit/

Want to be added to our email list? Contact:           ehv@engineersaustralia.org.au