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Mon Oct 12 2026 at 05:30 pm to 06:30 pm UTC+01:00

Under control? The hidden technology of automatic control past and future

  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Yusef Hamied Department of Chemistry, (entrance to lecture theatre, adjacent to the Scott Polar Research Institute) · Cambridge
  • From GBP 0.00
Cambridge Philosophical Society Publisher / Host Cambridge Philosophical Society
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Under control?  The hidden technology of automatic control past and future
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Professor Malcolm Smith FREng FRS
About this Event

The origins and history of feedback control systems will be traced from the ancients through the industrial revolution and to modern times, with demonstrations. Also outlined will be the later development of the theory of control systems, which began with James Clerk Maxwell's 1868 paper on governors, together with examples including suspension systems, rocket landing, nuclear fusion, and feedback in biology. The lecture concludes with a discussion on whether human understanding will be needed to design control systems in the future.

Malcolm Clive Smith is a British electrical engineer. He is a professor of control engineering at the University of Cambridge.


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Event venue & nearby stays

Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Yusef Hamied Department of Chemistry, (entrance to lecture theatre, adjacent to the Scott Polar Research Institute), 29 Lensfield Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Tickets GBP 0.00
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