page_title: Harry Ricardo
section_title: Post war period
hierarchical_section_title: Harry Ricardo / Post war period
caption_attribution_description: English: Blue plaque to Harry Ricardo on his house in Bedford Square, London, England. Photographed by me 29 September 2006. Oosoom
context_page_description: Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine.
  Among his many other works, he improved the engines that were used in the first tanks, oversaw the research into the physics of internal combustion that led to the use of octane ratings, was instrumental in development of the sleeve valve engine design, and invented the Diesel "Comet" Swirl chamber that made high-speed diesel engines economically feasible.
context_section_description: In 1944 Ricardo was elected president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In 1945 he and his wife moved from Shoreham-by-Sea to Graffham, also in West Sussex. In 1948 Ricardo was knighted in recognition for his work in the field of internal combustion engineering.
  In 1964 Ricardo retired from active work in Ricardo Consulting Engineers but kept in touch with various engineers within the company.
  In 1974, at the age of 89, Ricardo suffered a pelvic injury in a fall. He died six weeks later, on 18 May.
  On 16 June 2005 a blue plaque was placed outside the house where Ricardo was born in Bedford Square, London. On 1 July 2010, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers bestowed an Engineering Heritage Award on Sir Harry Ricardo in recognition of his life and work as one of the foremost engineers of the twentieth century.  The first internal combustion engine which Harry Ricardo designed and built as a schoolboy currently displays this Engineering Heritage plaque in the Ricardo plc company exhibition area.
caption: Blue plaque on 13 Bedford Square, London
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