Peter Lawrenson

Peter Lawrenson, BSc, MSc, DSc, FIEE, FIEEE, FRS, FREng is an Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds who contributed to the development of switched reluctance drive technology.

Lawrenson was born in Prescot, before moving to Lancashire, and educated at the University of Manchester from which he holds the degrees of BSc, MSc and DSc. From 1956 to 1961 he was a research engineer at GEC.

In 1961 Lawrenson was appointed a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He remained at Leeds for 30 years, being promoted to Reader in 1965 and Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1966. He retired from his chair in 1991 with the title Emeritus Professor.

Lawrenson is considered the father of switched reluctance drive technology. He is co-author of "The Analytical and Numerical Solution of Electric and Magnetic Fields," about electromagnetic field solutions.

Lawrenson is the recipient of the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the ESSO Energy Gold Medal of The Royal Society and the J.A. Ewing Gold Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 1980 and of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1982. Lawrenson won the IEEE Edison Medal in 2005 For outstanding contributions to the field of electrical machines, most notably the development and commercialization of switched reluctance drives.

Lawrenson was president of The Institution of Electrical Engineers from 1992 to 1993.