原国际热处理与表面工程联合会主席、中国工程院外籍院士

Tom Bell 教授病逝
　

Tom Bell made a broad, deep and highly visible impact nationally and globally on his field – heat treatment and surface engineering - which no simple CV can even begin to describe. He has been recognised over a period of nearly 40 years as an effective communicator of science and technology, a teacher, and a ‘multi-disciplinarian’, in his chosen area of endeavour. He influenced progress from the viewpoints of materials science, materials engineering, design engineering, tribology, economics, and environmentally benign process development.  He was the originator of the concept and term ‘surface engineering’ and was its foremost promoter. In academic life his effective teaching has produced graduates now contributing to progress in this field in many countries.

A communicator: It is often forgotten that systems, media and messages do not themselves actually constitute ‘communication’ in its useful sense, i.e. in the sense of the successful transmission and understanding of messages and ideas. There are many good scientists and technologists but by no means all of them communicate very well. Moreover, making a global impact requires a continuous act of communication. It is not a one-off process. There is little doubt that Tom got his many messages across, impressively and consistently, on a global basis, and over a long period.

From 1983 to 1992 he was UNIDO’s Senior Technical Adviser to the People’s Republic of China in his field.  Recognition of his contributions led to many invitations to give public, or guest lectures: in 1988 two prestige lectures, one in each hemisphere of the globe: in Bologna, Italy, on the occasion of the 950th anniversary of the foundation of the university in that city; the Materials Lecture given to the Institution of Engineers of Australia as part of the Australian Bicentennial celebrations. He delivered the 1990 Harold Moore Lecture in London. Over the period 1993-94 he was the ASM European Lecturer. In 1997, he gave the McLaughlin Lecture to the Institute of Engineers of Ireland in Dublin. He has served as a Programme Evaluator for the Commission of the European Communities. 

Significantly, he served twice as President of the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (1983-1985 and 2000-2001) and was a long-term member of its Executive Committee.  More than that, Tom was in at the beginning of planning for the foundation of IFHTSE in 1970, and he remained a tireless and constant promoter of mutual understanding and benefit across national boundaries. Thus, before he was 30, Tom was part of an early network of people in his field and was indeed a leader in an extensive multinational community of individuals in heat treatment and surface engineering which interacted regularly by whatever means were available (and often in the face of ideological difficulties), before the Internet was even a remote concept.  

In his time, Tom carried out, almost single-handed, a survey of heat treatment practice relating to engineering components. That survey had the following terms of reference:

·        Analysis of current heat treatment practice with a view to implementation of better procedures over a wider sphere of industry

·        Development of an increased awareness in industrial and university spheres of the problems involved in heat treatment

·        Critical assessment of new developments with a view to recommendations concerning future research

·        Special reference to the role of nitrogen in surface treatment of steel and assessment of future developments in that area.

 The work certainly covered the UK, but it also involved face-to-face discussions with numerous organisations in the rest of Europe, in the USA and elsewhere. Its terms of reference sound all very fine and even contemporary, but the essential point to note is that this exercise, conducted over thirty years ago, proved to be a seminal work of definition, and some aspects of the debate it stimulated at the time continue.

A teacher: Tom taught metallurgy initially at the University of Liverpool after receiving his PhD, then at Birmingham, where he held the Hanson Chair of Metallurgy. Successful himself at an early age, he always felt it essential to identify, and to expend great effort in encouraging, the promising younger entrants into the field from anywhere in the world. To quote from one of Tom’s many honours: ‘He has had remarkable success as a teacher, giving confidence and encouragement to students as well as sharing his knowledge. His many former students around the world are notable for their lasting loyalty to their old professor.’

 From talking to his many former students it is clear that, as a teacher, Tom was one of those who believe that it is necessary to do more than simply tell what is known, that it is necessary to ensure that the student has absorbed and understood what has been transmitted, to the extent that the student can process and eventually add to the knowledge. Naturally, this approach was not total altruism – Tom also had a very good eye for a student, especially postgraduate, from whom he was likely to get a large input of sheer hard work!

A ‘multidisciplinarian’: A good part of Tom’s impact arose from the fact that he was always rather more than a ‘materials scientist’. For one thing, he was a leader in the field that rapidly became known as ‘materials engineering’. For another, he always made a particular effort to take a cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary approach. It is significant that mechanical engineers generally understood him. In connection with one of Tom’s awards, a leading mechanical engineer wrote: “In our fast-moving world, the tribological design aspect of materials is an area in which researchers have not usually moved as fast as the technological developments themselves demand. Bell is one of the glowing exceptions.” Always confident of his position, he also fully recognised that his expertise was bounded and he always made a particular effort to identify interfacing experts in areas in which he felt uneasy – and usually persuaded them to bring their critical knowledge to a team project. It is highly likely that Tom’s approach was for him a natural consequence of having studied for his first degree at Liverpool, where the Metallurgy Department was part of the Faculty of Engineering – and his first degree was designated BEng.

Some specific examples of Tom’s contributions, as identified by colleagues in the USA, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Australia, Romania, France, China are:

·        Pioneering work on ferritic nitrocarburising

·        Recent contributions to the field of environmentally friendly plasma processing techniques

·        Pioneering promotion of ‘surface engineering’ as a concept and as a focus of several disciplines

·        The real driving force behind the acceptance of surface engineering as an important means of creating added value to materials in mechanical engineering

·        By forming international research teams he has created a worldwide network of devoted scientists and industrial specialists in the field of surface engineering

·        A very active role in replacing salt bath treatments

·        In addition to pure scientific research, industrial application and its impact on the environment, human resources, and energy management have always remained at the forefront of his mind

·        Contributions to the elimination of cyanide-based surface treatment technologies and the introduction of plasma-based technologies

·        Contributions to enabling titanium to become a substitute for steel through surface engineering advances involving clean air, thus making titanium a promising engineering material with pollutant-free processing and 100% recyclability.

·        Recent work on titanium is likely to have widespread and beneficial effects

·        Leading role in launching the journals Surface Engineering (of which he is the Founding Editor) and more recently International heat treatment and surface engineering

·        Constant interest in identifying and encouraging young talent from anywhere in the world

1959  Undergraduate, University of Liverpool

1961          Bachelor of Engineering BEng (Liverpool)

1965  PhD (Liverpool)

1975  FIM (Fellowship of the IOM, UK) 

1978  CEng (Chartered Engineer status)

1985  Founding Editor of the journal Surface Engineering

1986  Honorary Member, Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society

1988  Bi-Centennial Materials Honorary Lecturer, Institution of Engineers, Australia

1988          Honorary Lecturer 900 year celebrations, University of Bologna, Italy

1990  Harold Moore Memorial Lecturer, Institute of Metals UK

1991          Founder member, European Joint Committee on Plasma Ion Surface Engineering

1992          ASM European Award

1993          Honorary Professor, Xian Jiaotong University, China

1994          Honorary Professor, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

1997          McLaughlin Lecture, Institute of Engineers of Ireland

1997  FREng Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering

1998  Honorary member, Russian Association of Metallurgists

1999  Honorary Doctorate, Technical University Clausthal, Germany

2000          Honour Symposium, ASM Heat Treatment Society

2002  Academician, Academy of Engineering of China

2003  Fellow, IFHTSE

2004  IFHTSE Medal

2006  Founding Joint Editor of International heat treatment and surface engineering

2007     Member- Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart

2007  Full professor Xian Jiaotong University, China

Outside his career activities he gave great service to his local community; most significantly he was for many years from 1987 Chairman of the Board of Governors at St. Mary's College, Crosby. A dedicated family man, he received massive support throughout his career from his wife Catherine and his six children and extended family. Two of his sons have followed their father in his profession and are currently studying for the degree of Engineering Doctorate. His third son works closely promoting new Surface Engineering technologies in Tom’s own University spin out companies Ad.Surf.Eng Ltd and Anglo Sino Surface Engineering Ltd.

Tom Bell died peacefully at home surrounded by his family on 17 April 2008 after a short illness. He will be missed by his family, the global engineering community, and all who knew him.

Robert Wood

Secretary General, International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering

20 April 2008