Leslie Jesch was born in Budapest on 16 June 1926 and received a diploma in engineering at the University of Technology (1953).

After moving to the United States, he spent a number of years in Pennsylvania. He worked as a project engineer at Air Products in Allentown (1956-58), secured an MSc at the University of Pennsylvania (1962) and went on to further positions as a group leader at the Sun Oil Corporation (1961-66) and senior combustion engineer at Westinghouse (1968-70).

After being awarded a PhD by the University of Leeds (1970), Dr Jesch emigrated to England and spent the next two decades as a lecturer in the University of Birmingham¡¯s department of mechanical engineering, while also serving as managing director of Energy Engineering (1976-86) and, from 1980, chairman of the Franklin Company.

An enthusiastic kite-flyer, Dr Jesch attempted to break two records in 1973. One involved trying to control a kite 40,000 feet above the ground. The other was an endurance test that saw him trying to keep a kite flying for 48 hours without interruption, although his plans seem to have been scuppered by a lack of wind.

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The main focus of Dr Jesch¡¯s academic work and consultancy was always solar energy. He published a major study,?Solar Energy Today (1981), as well as many shorter works, and collaborated extensively with the Burnville Village Trust (1973-88) and Pilkington Insulation (1985-90).

The Burnville Village Trust was responsible for a pioneering project known as the Rowheath Solar Village.

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Ljubomir Jankovic, professor of zero carbon design at Birmingham City University, recalls ¡°join[ing] the Solar Energy Lab at Birmingham University¡± in 1984 to start a PhD on the project, ¡°where my PhD supervisor, Leslie Jesch, had designed passive and active solar systems. This development was the largest of [its] kind in northern Europe and the houses were affordable for first-time buyers.¡±

It was from Dr Jesch, Professor Jankovic went on, that he acquired ¡°a strong passion for improving building performance through capturing solar energy¡± and learned the value of sheer hard work ¨C carrying out ¡°computational experiments and data analysis all day and all night¡± ¨C in ¡°striving to make a better world¡±.

Dr Jesch¡¯s eminence in the field was recognised by a number of major positions in the International Solar Energy Society, including president for Europe (1993-95).

He died on 29 June after suffering from dementia and is survived by his wife, Katherine, and daughter Judith, professor of Viking studies at the University of Nottingham.

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matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com