Remembering Professor Peter Cawley

A tribute to one of GUL’s founding board members and a pioneer in guided wave testing.

Guided Ultrasonics Ltd (GUL) would like to pay tribute to Professor Peter Cawley, one of our founding board members, who recently passed away.

Without his knowledge, encouragement, and support, GUL would certainly not exist. In fact, Guided Wave Testing in non-destructive testing would probably never have existed without his contribution, and the technology would certainly not be as powerful or as far-reaching as it is today.

Peter was generous, rigorous, ethical, compassionate, curious, and sharp, yet remained modest. A leading innovator, he had a remarkable ability to apply theoretical knowledge to solve real world problems.

Those of us at GUL feel privileged to have known him and worked with him and have benefited from his dedication, teaching, and guidance – even when that guidance came as “good for a first draft” on the fifth iteration of a PhD thesis.

He helped develop both the people and the research behind several commercially successful university spin-offs, including GUL, which he supported heavily from the beginning and then continued to support. He recognised their value: creating high value employment, contributing to society, identifying new areas for research, and allowing UK companies to compete globally.

Through his work, Peter demonstrated how university research and development programmes can drive technology forward while making lasting contributions to local communities and the country as a whole.

Peter Cawley will be greatly missed.

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