Alan Muir Wood

Sir Alan Marshall Muir Wood (8 August 1921 – 1 February 2009) was a British civil engineer.

Education

Muir Wood was born on 8 August 1921 at Hampstead in London. Educated at Abbotsholme School, he later studied mechanical sciences at Peterhouse, Cambridge, from 1940 and graduated with a Master of Arts degree.

Career Due to the Second World War Muir Wood joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) as a commissioned officer on 5 October 1942. Muir Wood was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant (Engineers) on 1 August 1945, with seniority of 5 April 1945.

After leaving the navy in 1946 Muir Wood worked for the Southern Railway where he helped to design bridges and the remediation of landslips at Folkestone Warren, Kent. He then spent a period with the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive where he designed and organised the hydraulics laboratory.

Muir Wood was the second chairman of the British Tunnelling Society and was founding president of the International Tunneling Association in 1974 and served as honorary president until his death. He retired from Halcrow as the firm's senior partner on 1 May 1984 but continued to work as an expert witness and specialist consultant. He was closely involved with a campaign launched by New Civil Engineer to rescue Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Thames Tunnel from a plan to shroud its lining with sprayed concrete. He held a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Dundee and an Engineering Doctorate from Bristol University where he was also a visiting professor. of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the ICE. Muir Wood was appointed a Knight Bachelor on 31 December 1981, the knighthood was conferred by Queen Elizabeth II on 23 March 1982. He died on 1 February 2009. Muir Wood was instrumental in the 1987 donation of 900 of his John Muir Wood's photographs to the National Galleries of Scotland.