Development of the Marine Steam Turbine by Sir Charles Parsons

The next technical lecture will be on ‘Development of the Marine Steam Turbine by Sir Charles Parsons’ presented by Keith Hutchinson of Safinah.

This presentation will discuss Sir Charles’ early career, his development on Tyneside of steam turbine technology and the subsequently the marine steam turbine, and also his design of the of the revolutionary and record breaking first-ever turbine steamer SY Turbinia which was built on the River Tyne. It will also illustrate the rapid early adoption of the steam turbine for propulsion by both navies and the merchant marine up to the completion only 13 years later in 1907 of her direct descendant Cunard’s famous steam turbine propelled Blue Riband transatlantic liner RMS Mauretania by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson also at Wallsend on the River Tyne.

Date: Wednesday 21st October 2026 

Time: 6:30pm 

Location: Palmerston Lecture Theatre, The Spark Southampton Solent University, East Park Terrace, Southampton, SO14 0YN

This lecture is a hybrid lecture - if you would like to attend the Zoom lecture please follow the link below:

Zoom lecture