Biography and Tributes
J. K. BRIMACOMBE, O.C., F.R.S.C., F.C.A.E.
On October lst of 1997, J. Keith Brimacombe was appointed the first President
and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This
enterprise, newly established by the Federal Government of Canada, was provided
with one billion dollars of funding with the objective of strengthening the
nation's research infrastructure in universities, and hospitals. Sadly, Dr.
Brimacombe was able to serve only three months of his term, succumbing to a
massive heart attack on December 16, 1997, at the age of 54. Prior to his
appointment with the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Dr. Brimacombe held the
Alcan Chair in Materials Process Engineering, The Centre for Metallurgical
Process Engineering, at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
He was born in Nova Scotia, raised in Alberta and received his undergraduate
education at UBC obtaining a B.A.Sc. (Hons.) in 1966. With the support of a
Commonwealth Fellowship, he traveled to England and studied under one of the
great metallurgical thermochemists, F.D. Richardson, F.R.S., at Imperial College
of Science and Technology in the University of London where he received a Ph.D.
in 1970. Subsequently he was awarded the D.Sc. (Eng.) in 1986 by the University
of London and an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering degree in 1994 by the
Colorado School of Mines. He returned to UBC in 1970 to establish courses and a
research programme in metallurgical process engineering. He remained at UBC
achieving the rank of Professor in 1979, Stelco Professor of Process Metallurgy
(a chair endowed by Stelco) in 1980, Stelco/NSERC Professor (a chair endowed by
Stelco and NSERC) in 1985 and the Alcan Chair in 1992. One of the finest
metallurgical engineers on the world stage in the twentieth century, Dr.
Brimacombe pioneered the application of mathematical models, industrial and
laboratory measurements, to shed light on complex metallurgical processes
spanning both the ferrous and non-ferrous industries during his twenty-seven
year career at UBC. For his ground-breaking research he earned the reputation of
being one of the most innovative intellectual giants in the field for which he
earned global recognition.
During his tenure at UBC he built a large collaborative research group in
metallurgical process engineering consisting of about seventy faculty, graduate
students, research engineers and technicians. Much of the research was conducted
in close collaboration with Canadian companies such as Stelco, Hatch Associates,
Algoma Steel, Western Canada Steel, Sidbec-Dosco, Ivaco, Cominco, Noranda, Inco,
Alcan, Domtar, Canadian Liquid Air, and Liquid Carbonic. The thrust of the
research was the development and improvement of metallurgical processes such as
continuous casting of steel, flash smelting of lead and copper converting,
rotary kilns, and microstructural engineering of steel and aluminum, and D.C.
casting processes. This body of work led to three hundred publications and nine
patents as well as two books. In 1985, in cooperation with faculty colleagues,
he founded the Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering and was named its
Director at UBC. The purpose of the Centre is to strengthen the
interdisciplinary approach to metallurgical process research and to broaden the
field of application to materials other than metals. For this body of research
he was awarded the B.C. Science and Engineering Gold Medal (1985) and the Ernest
C. Manning Prize (1987) and before that the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship
(1979) from NSERC. He also received the following awards: TMS-AlME Charles Herty
Award (1973 and 1987), AMS Marcus A. Grossmann Award (1976), TMS Extractive
Metallurgy Science Award (1979, 1987 and 1989), ISS John Chipman Award (1979,
1985 and 1996), TMS Champion H. Mathewson Gold Medal (1980), ISS Robert Woolston
Hunt Silver Medal (1980, 1983 and 1993), ASM Henry Marion Howe Medal (1980 and
1985), TMS Extractive Metallurgy Technology Award (1983 and 1991), the Williams
Prize of the Metals Society (U.K.) (1983), the ISS Mechanical Working and Steel
Processing Conference Meritorious Award (1986 and 1996), the ASM Canadian
Council Lectureship ( 1986) and the CIM Metallurgical Society Alcan Award (
1988). In 1981 he delivered the Arnold Markey Lecture to the Steel Bar Mill
Association. In 1987 he was made a Distinguished Member of the Iron and Steel
Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1988 he became a Fellow
of the CIM and in 1989 he delivered the TMS Extractive Metallurgy Lecture while
being awarded Fellowship in TMS. Also in 1989, he was awarded the Izaak Walton
Killam Prize for Engineering by the Canada Council, joined the Board of
Directors of Sherritt Gordon Ltd., received the Bell Canada Corporate-Higher
Education Award and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1990 he
received the Meritorious Achievement Award of the Association of Professional
Engineers of British Columbia and a UBC Killam Research Prize. In 1992 he was
honoured with the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian
Confederation and in 1993 delivered the Howe Memorial Lecture of the Iron and
Steel Society and became Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 1994
he presented the D.K.C. MacDonald Memorial Lecture; and in 1995, he was the
Inland Steel Lecturer at Northwestern University and received the Ablett Prize
of the Institute of Materials. In 1996 he delivered the ASM Edward DeMille
Campbell Memorial Lecture and in 1997 received the AIME Distinguished Service,
and was elected a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering. In
June 1997, he received Canada's highest scientific honour, the Canada Gold Medal
in Science and Engineering from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada. In 1998, Dr. Brimacombe was posthumously awarded the Benjamin
Fairless Award by the AIME and the Inco Medal by the CIM at their centennial
celebration.
Beyond the quest to generate knowledge and train young people he was driven by
the desire to see the fruits of his research implemented in industry. Not
satisfied that publications in peer reviewed journals are an effective means of
reaching out to the shop floor, where knowledge implementation creates wealth,
he worked tirelessly at the University-Industry interface to make the transfer
of knowledge to industry a reality. A gifted speaker, he was renowned for his
ability to translate complex research results to changes that are required to
the process for improved quality and/or productivity. Thus he was sought after
by the global metallurgical industry and presented over fifty courses in
companies in every continent. A course on continuous casting of steel offered
annually in Vancouver, under his directorship attracted participants from around
the world. He seized the opportunities provided by the revolution in computer
technology to help further the transfer of knowledge, and since the early
eighties drove the development of user-friendly mathematical models as a means
of transferring research results to industry. Dr. Brimacombe was also
instrumental in developing "smart" systems for the transfer of knowledge and
spearheaded the development of an expert system for diagnosing defects in steel
billets which is being marketed commercially. A recent project involving
Canadian companies is the development of a "Smart Process" in which knowledge is
made to work in the process through the use of an on-line expert system and
sensors.
He gave unreservedly of his time to professional societies which are a vehicle
for knowledge transfer and professional development of materials engineers. He
was the only professional who was President of the three major societies serving
materials engineers in North America; The Met. Soc. of CIM in Canada in 1985,
The TMS of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Engineers
(AIME) in 1993 and the Iron and Steel Society of AIME in 1995. His enthusiasm
for professional societies was infectious and has led to the initiation of a
very dynamic student chapter at UBC.
He served on the Killam Research Fellowships Committee of the Canada Council
from 1982 to 1985 where he initiated the Killam Prize in Engineering and worked
on other committees of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, the
Science Council of British Columbia and the Canadian Steel Industry Research
Association. He served on the Boards of the Iron and Steel Society and the
Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS) in the U.S.A. He served on numerous
committees in these societies including Joint Commission and Board of Review of
Metallurgical Transactions, Book Publishing Committee, Awards Committee,
Extractive Metallurgy Sub-committee, Nominating Committee and Long Range
Planning Committee. In 1989 he assumed responsibilities as Founding Chairman of
the TMS Extraction and Processing Division, in 1993/1994 was TMS President and
in 1994/1995 was Founding President of the TMS Foundation. In 1990 he was named
as an Eminent Scientist to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Centre for
Materials Research. In 1995 he was Chairman of the Science Policy Committee of
the Royal Society of Canada and was a member of the National Materials Advisory
Board (U.S.A.). In 1996 he was elected Vice President of the Academy of Science
of the Royal Society of Canada and was appointed to the Board of the United
Engineering Trust. He served on the Board of Trustees of the American Institute
of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) since 1993; had he
lived, he would have become President of AIME in 1999.
Tributes