Joseph Black was born and educated in Belfast. After working as a scientific officer with the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, Hampshire, and an aerodynamicist for de Havilland Aircraft, he was appointed Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol. He left in 1960 to become Head of the Department of Engineering at the newly created Bristol College of Science and Technology, subsequently the University of Bath, where he played a major part in the design, development and implementation of innovative administrative and academic structures such as the 'thin sandwich' course and joint degrees in engineering with French and German.

The collection contains material relating to various aspects of Joseph Black's career including his research, his published papers and his teaching at the University of Bath.

The collection was donated to the University of Bath in August 2001 by Mrs M. Black, the widow of Professor Black.

A paper catalogue (ref. 107/6/02), prepared in collaboration with the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS), providing contents details of the Black Collection is available in PDF format.

Size: 4 boxes, c 122 items.