I did not know Steven's connection with Behaviourism until his funeral but it now makes sense of an early experience I had with Steve. As a novice machinist I made the cardinal mistake of leaving the chuck key in the lathe. As Steven explained later this was potentially dangerous if not lethal. Steven snuck the offending key out and gently asked me to hold out my hand and then with the speed of a cobra wacked me full force on my palm with the key. Steven obviously knew that behavourism was 100% effective. I have never left a chuck key in a lathe since and if I see a forlorn chuck key I think of Steven and quietly remove it. He was an amazing person; a unique mixture of academic, a man of big and bold ideas, a rocket scientist, a talented machinist who was happy getting his hands dirty, a man who had a nose for interesting ideas and a gifted leader. I’ve read a few obituaries for Steven and they all mention the failure of the ‘Salter Duck’ without telling the rest of the story: out of the ashes of that project Steven laid the foundations for new industries and new technologies well in the future. The wave tank he designed with Glenn Keller is the world standard for wave research and has a become a significant business in itself. He was instrumental in taking Robert Clerk’s ideas about hydraulics, adding his own ideas and creating a new type of hydraulic machine that is revolutionizing what was a stagnant 19th century technology. His last wish to give his estate to create the Lothian School of Technology wasis typical of Steven: a problem solver to the end whose influence will continue with the legion of passionate and practical teams of engineers that he nurtured over his lifetime. We are all diminished by Steven’s departure.