Dr. J. Keith Brimacombe
(1943-1997) was a Metallurgical Engineer who was a
pioneer in the processes for continuous casting of
steel, a vital technology for the many pipelines and
steel needed for the petroleum industry. He was born
in Nova Scotia but was raised in Alberta. He
received his PhD in 1970 from the University of
London, England. He then became a professor of
Metals and Material Engineering in 1979, and
Director of the Centre for Metallurgical Process
Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
During his time at UBC, he and his researchers
focused on the metallurgical processes including
extraction of metals, continuous casting of steel,
rolling of steel, and aspects of microstructural
control. Dr. Brimacombe was committed to applying
his research across many disciplines, and was a
strong supporter of the UBC’s Group for Intelenet
processing and manufacturing of materials.
Dr. Brimacombe won numerous awards during his career. He
was the 1997 winner of the Canada Gold Medal for
Science and Engineering. At the award ceremony Dr.
Jon Gerrard, Secretary of State in Science, Research
and Development, said:
Dr. Brimacombe has been a
major contributor to the economic
competitiveness of the Canadian steel industry
and to the nationwide effort to build productive
research links between industry and
universities.
Source:
http://www.nserc.ca/news/1997/p970320.htm
Dr. Brimacombe was also named an
Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Sciences. As well as his positions
at the University, he was President and Chief
Executive Officer of the Canada Foundation for
Innovation until his sudden death in 1997. An award
was named in his honour in 1999 at the University of
British Columbia.
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