Thring was a visionary who changed from science to engineering "because he wanted to make the world a better place".[1] In his 1977 book How to Invent, he wrote "One can envisage a society in which man lives in near-equilibrium with his environment, with the minimum use of raw materials by fuel economy, complete recycling of all metals, no throw-away goods, all consumer goods built to last many decades, and near zero pollution."[2] In the same book he describes domestic and gardening tools, Intermediate Technology for less developed countries and robots to take the place of people in dangerous situations. However, these were not just imagining. At the University of Sheffield and Queen Mary College he was actively involved in robotics. He produced a stair-climbing robot, an autonomous fire-fighting robot, and one for clearing a table.[3] After his retirement he founded a charity called Power Aid to help developing countries.[4] In 1969 he predicted a future in which factories would be largely automatic, controlled by a central computer, and supposed that this would reduce the human working week to 10 or 20 hours.[5]
He studied combustion and other forms of energy generation, and was one of the founders of the International Flame Research Foundation.[1] This knowledge of energy was shown in his 1974 book Energy and Humanity which called essentially for a more rational and sustainable approach, with control of pollution. He was also known as a teacher, and for his belief that engineers had an ethical obligation to improve life for all, but notably the underprivileged and disabled.[6]
Books
The domestic open fire: a survey of research prior to 1937 M.W. Thring (London : Combustion Appliance Makers' Assn.) 1938.
The influence of port design on open-hearth furnace flames J.H. Chesters & M.W. Thring (London : Iron and Steel Institute) 1946.
Air Pollution. Based on papers given at a conference held at the University of Sheffield, September 1956. Edited by M. W. Thring (London: Butterworths Scientific Publications) 1957
Pilot plants, models, and scale-up methods in chemical engineering R. E. Johnstone & M. W. Thring (New York : McGraw-Hill) 1957.
The science of flames and furnaces M.W. Thring (London, Chapman & Hall) 1952.
Nuclear propulsion edited by M.W. Thring (London : Butterworths) 1960.
Pulsating combustion : the collected works of F.H. Reynst edited by M.W. Thring (Oxford : Pergamon) 1961.
The science of flames and furnaces, 2nd edition M.W. Thring (London, Chapman & Hall) 1962.
The principles of applied science M. W. Thring (Oxford, Pergamon) 1964.
Engineering: An outline for the intending student M. W. Thring, 1972 ISBN0-7100-7403-4
