David was born Bristol in March 1942, and became one of the founding fathers of modern modal analysis. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, he completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. His subsequent career focussed on all aspects of vibration: he published over 400 papers, leading to the seminal book Modal Testing: Theory and Practice, published in 1982 with a second edition in 2000.  

As well as his academic work, David formed the first Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Vibration and collaborated extensively with NASA, AWE, Bosch and Boeing. In recognition of his work, he was made a joint academician for both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of London – the world's oldest and most prestigious learned society.

David never stopped working and returned to the city of his birth at the University of Bristol as Director of the Bristol Laboratories for Advanced Dynamic Engineering (BLADE) and director of the Agusta-Westland University Technology centre in Rotorcraft Vibration. From 2015 to 2019 he was also a Visiting Fellow at Bristol.