Bob Bowden is an elected Council Member of the Newcomen Society.

Bob served a good old fashioned, time served, electrical automation apprenticeship, subsequently working in the automotive industry for 50yrs in the role of automation electrical engineer, encompassing everything from relays to robots. Latterly specialised as a ‘resistance’ welding engineer - resistance welding being the mainstay of car bodyshell manufacture. Currently working as an independent welding consultant, trouble shooter & training specialist.

Bob has enjoyed a life long interest in industrial history and archaeology, primarily in the various industries of North West England. He had an active role in the recovery of perhaps a dozen steam engines, and other industrial artefacts, for preservation. He often speaks on the recent history of welding robots.

Bob is an enthusiastic supporter of the Newcomen Society and, with a training background, feels that the society should reach out to the untapped resource of younger industrialists and innovators. He is conscious that even in his working lifetime technology has come and gone leaving little trace other than a memory of its onetime existence.