Frederick Michael Burdekin is a British civil engineer, and emeritus professor at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and the University of Manchester. Early life and education Michael Burdekin was born in Hawarden, Flintshire in 1938. From 1945 to 1949 he attended the Choir School in Chester, singing in the cathedral choir. He then attended The King's School, Chester from 1949 to 1956. He was captain of cricket for 3 years and played cricket for Flintshire County Cricket Club at the age of 16. He was Head Boy in his final year and was awarded a State Scholarship to study Mechanical Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. During two years National Service in the Royal Artillery, he played cricket at Western Command level. He then went to study at the University of Cambridge and graduated in 1961 with first class honours in Mechanical Sciences and was awarded a titular major scholarship by his college on graduation. Whilst at Cambridge he played cricket for Cambridge University Crusaders Cricket Club against Oxford University Authentics in 1959 and 1960 and was elected to the Cambridge University Hawks Club in 1961. Career On leaving Cambridge University in 1961 he joined what was then the British Welding Research Association, (now the Welding institute, TWI) and rose to become a Principal Scientific Officer in 1967. His research work there was in the field of applying fracture mechanics to structural integrity of welded structures and he was heavily involved in the development of the crack tip opening displacement approach to prevention of brittle fracture failures in steel structures which has become a significant factor in safety of offshore structures. He then joined Messrs Sandberg, Consulting Engineers, responsible for their team of welding inspectors checking the quality of construction of many of the steel bridges being constructed in the 1970s for the motorway network. In 1977 he was appointed Professor of Civil and Structural Engineering at UMIST where he remained until retiring in December 2002. During his time at UMIST he was Head of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering for 12 of his 25-year period and he was Vice Principal for External Affairs from 1981 to 1983. His research at UMIST took up again the subject of fracture mechanics applied to welded structures and he has published over 200 papers in the technical literature. Awards He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of