It is with sadness that we announce the death of Emeritus Professor Peter Morice on 17 October 2023, aged 97.
Professor Morice was appointed as the first professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Southampton in 1957 taking up the post in early 1958.
As a Civil Engineer he was co-opted to the committee responsible for the fabric of the expanding campus working closely with the appointed architect, Sir Basil Spence.
Always ambitious to make the Civil Engineering department one of the best in the country, he successfully strove to get external funding for research purposes, as well as updating the undergraduate degree programme expanding the breadth of study.
He became Dean of the Engineering Faculty for the first time in 1959 and successfully pressed for increased funding for the department.
The University of Southampton was a front-runner in getting a computer and in the late 50s Professor Morice was asked to assist in research modelling of Sydney Opera House to stress test its design of aerodynamics using the Ferranti Pegasus computer which led to the modified curves of the iconic structure.
His interests in the University were not limited to engineering, but extended to music, arts and wine.
He was instrumental in initiating the idea of open lectures where students were encouraged to spend one hour a week studying a discipline outside their chosen degree.
Recorded music sessions were held in the Lanchester lecture theatre and ultimately became subsumed by the Turner Sims.
He was also a chairman of the Fine Arts Committee and along with colleagues starting the Wine Society in 1959 with the Vice-Chancellor’s blessing.
In 1980 he was invited to join a British Council team with a view to setting up a university in Oman, which was green-lit in 1981 and formally opened in 1986.
A part of his legacy is the sundial that he designed and made, which is now outside the Hartley Library.
He retired from the University in 1991.