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MARTIN A. ELLIOTT
1 909-1 988
BY HENRY R. LINDEN
MARTIN A. E~oTT, a major figure in the field of fuel
science and engineering, and especially synthetic liquid-
fuels and gas research, died on August 5, 198S, in Eugene,
Oregon, while recuperating from coronary bypass surgery.
Although retired for fourteen years following his last full-
time position as corporate scientific adviser of Texas East-
ern Transmission Corporation, he had remained active as
an energy consultant and continued to serve as member
emeritus of the Industry Technical Advisory Committee of
the Gas Research Institute. He also continued his contri-
butions to the technical literature, most notably as editor
of Chemistry of Coal Utilization and author of key chapters.
Martin Elliott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on Feb-
ruary 2l, 1909, graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
in 1927, and received from the John Hopkins University a
B.E. in 1930 and Ph.D. in 1933, both in gas engineering.
While a graduate student, he met his wife of almost fifty
years, Mary Helen Parker Elliott, who died in 1982. Their
humor, grace, and exceptional mutual devotion overcame
ill health and infirmity during their final years together.
Martin Elliott diec! in the home of his second wife, Shirley
Whitiock Elliott, who was a great comfort to him.
Martin started his lifelong involvement with gas and fuels
technology as an engineer for Consolidated Gas, Electric
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Light & Power Company of Baltimore (now Baltimore Gas
& Electric Company) in 1934. In 1938 he began a fourteen-
year association with the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh,
where he rose to chief of the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Research
Branch. In 1950 he was a key member of the team of U.S.
scientists and engineers who traveled throughout Europe
to gather information on synthetic liquid-fuels processes.
My close association with Martin Elliott dates back to 1952
when he came to the Illinois Institute of Technology (NIT)
as research professor of mechanical engineering. From
1956 to 1961 he headed the Institute of Gas Technology
(IGT), an affiliate of ITT, and then served as vice-president
of academic affairs at ITT until 1967. Thereafter, he went
to Houston to continue his service to the gas industry as
corporate scientific adviser of Texas Eastern Transmission
Corporation until his retirement in 1974. Also in 1974 he
was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME), and in 1975 he received the first Gas
Industry Research Award from the American Gas Association
for his lasting and significant contributions to gas industry
technology. In 1976 he was elected a member of the National
Academy of Engineering.
Much of today's understanding of the fundamentals that
govern the conversion of coal and oil shale to synthetic
fuels is based on Martin Elliott's work and the research he
initiated and guided while serving at the Bureau of Mines
and at TOT. He served on numerous prestigious scientific
and advisory bodies in connection with his lifelong dedication
to improving the technology and economics of synthetic
fuels production and played a major role in IGT's development
of novel fossil-fuel gasification processes.
Earlier in his career he was also deeply involved in the
fields of combustion and explosives, making major contri-
butions to the safe operation of diesel engines in underground
coal mines and the safety of liquefied natural gas storage
and use. In 1952 the Secretary of the Interior bestowed
upon him the Interior Department's highest award, the
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MARTIN A. ELLIOTT
71
Distinguished Service Medal, for his work at the U.S. Bu-
reau of Mines. In 1967 he also received the Percy Nicholls
Award of the Fuel Division of ASME and the Coal Division
of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Pe-
troleum Engineers for his contributions in the field of solid
fuels.
No memorial tribute to a leading technologist would be
complete without a listing of the traditional measures of
his impact on his field of specialization. Let me present a
somewhat condensed treatment of this aspect of Martin
Elliott's life's work. He authored more than one hundred
papers on fuel and gas technology and on the future
producibility of fossil fuels. In 1954 he chaired the Gordon
Research Conference on Coal Science. From 1957 to 1962
he was a member of the Committee on Chemistry of Coal
of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council.
He was chairman of the diesel engine test code committee
of the Society of Automotive Engineers; a member of the
board of directors of Autoresearch, Inc., Utah Shale Land
Corporation, and the Adler Planetarium, all of Chicago;
and active on committees of the Coordinating Research
Council of the petroleum and automotive industries. From
1964 to 1967 he was a member of the Science Advisory
Council to the Governor of the State of Illinois. In 1966
he was appointed a member of the National Research Council's
Committee on Mineral Science and Technology and chair-
man of its Panel on Fuel Science and Technology. He
became a member of the Coal Advisory Committee of the
Illinois Geological Survey in 1961 and an honorary member
in 1967. In 1967 he was appointed a member of the General
Technical Advisory Committee of the Office of Coal Research
of the U.S. Department of the Interior and became a member
of the International Gas Union's subcommittee on the pro-
duction of synthetic gaseous fuels.
This brief summary of his distinguished career in research
and education fails to capture the essence of Martin Elliott's
impact on the field of fuel science and engineering. A very
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
modest man, he shunned the limelight and devoted a large
measure of his formiclable energies to cooperative efforts
that served a wide range of professional, national, and global
interests in the energy field. He was an exceptionally
devoted and effective mentor to younger colleagues, whose
subsequent achievements reflected Martin's guidance and
wisdom. I was among them. He was also a tireless analyst
and innovator, again without concern for receiving credit
from his peers or in publications and patents. Thus, the
record of his life's work, impressive as it is, greatly understates
his full contribution. His intellectual curiosity led him to
the pursuit of numerous challenging issues, such as what
the economically and technically recoverable natural gas
resource base of the United States really is. In 1968 he
coauthored a seminal study conducted under his direction
that accurately projected today's assessment of the size of
this resource base. Remember, this was a time when the
conventional wisdom was that depletion was imminent. I
offer this merely as an illustration of the true measure of
Martin Elliott, whose memory is cherished by all those whose
lives he touched.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
formiclable energies
