William “Bill” Lionel Wilkinson 1931-2026

David William Wilkinson remembers his father William, a highly decorated chemical engineer and former IChemE president, who has died at the age of 95.

WILLIAM “BILL” WILKINSON, a former IChemE president whose career spanned over four decades across fluid flow research and nuclear fuel, has died at the age of 95.

David Wilkinson

Born on 16 February 1931 in Barnsley, then a major town supporting the UK’s coal mining industry, Wilkinson was educated at the local Holgate Grammar School. By 1953, via a course in mechanical engineering sciences, he had graduated with an MA in chemical engineering from Christ’s College, Cambridge. After receiving a scholarship from the Salters’ Institute, Wilkinson stayed in Cambridge to complete his PhD on the response characteristics of distillation columns, earning him and two colleagues IChemE’s Senior Moulton Medal in 1957.

Shortly after his PhD, Wilkinson became a lecturer at University College Swansea, where he developed his interest in non-Newtonian fluid flow. Wilkinson’s 1960 book, Non-Newtonian Fluids: Fluid Mechanics, Mixing and Heat Transfer went on to become a standard text on the subject.

Wilkinson left Swansea in 1959 to join the Industrial Group of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at their Springfields facility, now operated by Westinghouse, near Preston, where he became immersed in the challenges of converting crude uranium concentrate to the ultra-pure metal required for reactor fuel elements.

In 1967, he was tempted back into academia, earning professorship and becoming head of the University of Bradford’s Department of Chemical Engineering. His research focused on fluid mechanics and process dynamics during his time at the university.

Wilkinson had a highly decorated career. He won IChemE’s Council Medal in 1973 before serving a term as the institution’s president in 1980. He sat on several UK research committees, including the Science Research Council (1979-1983), the Advisory Council on R&D (1984-1990) and the Advisory Council on Science and Technology (1990-1994). He was also a visiting professor at Imperial College London between 1980 and 1992. His status within engineering circles earned him fellowships at the Royal Academy of Engineering (1980) and the Royal Society (1990). He was awarded a CBE honour in 1987.

By the 1980s, Wilkinson had returned to the nuclear industry and served as the R&D director of British Nuclear Fuels from 1979 before rising to deputy CEO in 1986. He joined the British Nuclear Industry Forum in 1992 as chairman until 1997, while also serving as president of the European Nuclear Forum for two years from 1994.

Wilkinson was a shining example and mentor to many young engineers as they ventured into the outside world, including generations of his family, many of whom are now chemical engineers. Many of Wilkinson’s students stayed in touch throughout his life.

Wilkinson died on 27 May 2026 and will be greatly missed by his five sons David, Andrew, Iain, Richard and Stephen, their wives, and his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Wilkinson’s wife of 63 years, Anne, passed away in 2018.

Readers may get in touch with Bill's son David at davidwilkinson57@hotmail.com.