Professor Ludwik Finkelstein OBE

Research winner

Past Staff

Professor Ludwik Finkelstein was one of the longest-serving members of City's academic staff. He served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor when City gained its Charter in 1966, having established the Measurement and Instrumentation Centre at City's predecessor – the Northampton College of Advanced Technology. Born in Poland, Professor Finkelstein was deported with his mother to Siberia by Soviet forces in 1941. Reunited with his father, a short period in the Middle East followed, before the family settled in London, living an impoverished existence. Ludwik began educating himself through books, going on to gain his first degree from the Northern Polytechnic in Holloway. He joined City's predecessor, the Northampton College of Advanced Technology, in 1959. His distinction as a measurement scientist – he was the author of some two hundred papers and four books – resulted in his appointment as a professor and, later, his election to the Royal Academy of Engineering and president of the Institute of Measurement and Control. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng); made an OBE in 1990; and given an honorary degree by City in 1999. Professor Finkelstein retired from full-time work in 1993 but maintained strong ties with City until his death in August 2011.