Peter Richardson applied his engineering expertise to the medical and biological sciences. In particular, he used his knowledge of fluid mechanics to design artificial lungs and a hybrid pancreas. Peter’s study of the interaction between blood flow and blood vessels advanced our understanding of atherosclerosis — the thickening of artery walls — and thrombosis, the formation of blood clots.

To complement his blood flow research, Peter developed the use of ultrasound to diagnose conditions in blood vessels. Peter’s non-biomedical contributions included studies of heat convection for the US Air Force and early computational work for NASA on the effects of radiative heat transfer on the lunar surface.

Peter keenly promoted the value of biomedical engineering to society. He was a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and an Inaugural Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Peter’s many accolades included the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine, an award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and election as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Professor Peter Richardson FRS died on 21 April 2020.