Remembering John A Hemsley
John was born on 3 April 1941. His early education culminated in a Bachelor's degree from the Department of Mining in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield 1963. He then joined the civil engineering company, Ove-Arup, as a Geotechnical Engineer, but soon returned to Sheffield to take a Masters degree in Mining focussed on Optical Stress Measurement, followed by a PhD in 1968 in the same department. In 1968 he returned to Ove-Arup in the position of Research and Development Engineer and remained there until 1991 when he became a professional consultant and author, a direction for the rest of his working life. He was awarded an Honorary Professorship by the University of Hong Kong in January 1988 and a DEng in Civil & Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield on 18 Jan 1991.
The upward trajectory of his career as a geotechnical engineer was remarkable. He became a guiding light in the field of Foundation Engineering, authoring a book entitled “Elastic Analysis of Raft Foundations”; this became a primary text for Civil and Structural Engineers. He published widely in the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) proceedings on soil-structure interactions; his output was considered by his peers as benchmarking. His achievements were widely recognised through numerous awards including the Geotechnical Research Medal and the Thomas Telford Premium from ICE. There were others too. For his theoretical work and its practical applications, his long string of prizes from the Engineering Community continued to grow: a Special Award (for work on Sydney Opera House) issued by the Institution of Structural Engineers in Jan 1973, the Crampton Prize Issued by Institution of Civil Engineers in the same month, two B.G.S. Prizes from the British Geotechnical Society, in January 1973 and again in January 1983, and the Murray Buxton Award issued by the Institution of Structural Engineers in 1984.
From the perspective of colleagues in the Society of Glass Technology (SGT), a significant role was his involvement in the iconic glass walls of the Sydney Opera House, during the historically turbulent final years of construction. Sydney Opera House was completed in 1971. His work included theoretical and experimental stress analysis which he applied to laminated glass, particularly in the context of architectural façades.
The tinted glass used in the Sydney Opera House was made in Paris by pot melting. The 6mm panes made were then laminated using a clear polyvinyl butyral interlayer. He wrote the book ‘Sydney Opera House – 50 years on’ published in 2023, based on his experiences during its design and construction.
His link to the Society of Glass Technology (SGT) had begun much earlier than 2023, in its role both as a publisher and as a guardian of the Wood Library, an extensive collection of glass texts and journals gathered over several decades. He was one of several SGT members whose thirst for historical information kept the Society’s Librarian busy.
He subsequently wrote two textbooks based on his extensive research, both published by the SGT. These provided in-depth accounts of the use of Optical Birefringence as an engineering tool, Volume 1 (2015) on the ‘Optical Birefringence of Glass’ and Volume 2 (2016) on ‘Glass under Load’.
His later years were spent in Christchurch, Dorset where sadly he died in 2026, leaving a son.