Academic and industrialist and pioneer of high vacuum technology. The company he founded, Edwards Vacuum, is now a multi-billion dollar global organisation.
Frederick David Edwards was born in March 1889 in Dulwich, London, the son of William Edwards, a carpenter and joiner, and his wife Eleanor. He attended the Northampton Institute, London (which became City, University of London) where he later became a science lecturer with a keen interest in vacuum.
In 1919, he began importing vacuum equipment and in the same year founded (with his father) his own company dealing with high vacuum. This later became known as Edwards High Vacuum, and it heralded the start of a new industry in the UK.
When World War II began, German patents were voided in the UK, and Edwards was cut off from their suppliers. The company reacted quickly and in the same year 1939 began manufacturing its own vacuum products. The firm was rebranded W Edwards and Co in 1940, then Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd in 1950. It moved from London to Crawley in 1953. Growth from then was both organic and through acquisitions: Edwards purchased Italian freeze-drying equipment manufacturer Alto Vuoto SpA in 1954, followed by the Shoreham factory of former subcontractor J H Holmes and Son Ltd in 1958.
In the 1960s the firm listed as a public company, and subsequently was sold to BOC. In 2013, the West Sussex-based manufacturer of vacuum pumps was acquired by Swedish industrial giant Atlas Copco in a takeover worth up to £1 billion.
Vacuum technology has always been an important and critical utility in the production of electronics, and that importance has expanded enormously with the development of the semiconductor industry globally.
Fred Edwards was always interested in supporting students, especially those suffering hardship at his former institution, City, University of London. He set up a Trust which for many years supported student hardship cases.
The Edwards Lecture Series was created initially through support and funding from the Edwards Foundation set up by Fred Edwards, and has become the longest-running lecture series at City, University of London, having reached its 44th edition in 2023. The lecture is supported by the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers and commemorates the life and work of physicist and Edwards Vacuum founder FD Edwards.
The Edwards Lecture has a distinguished history, and has been given by five Nobel Laureates over the years (Professor Denis Gabor, Professor Sir Harry Kroto, Professor Sir Peter Mansfield, Professor Sir Paul Nurse, and Professor Carlo Rubbia), as well as several Fellows of the Royal Society and Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
F D Edwards was a founder member of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers Company and its Master in 1958-9.
He died in 1966 at his home in Horley.
