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FREDERICK DENYS RICHARDSON
1913-1983
BY MIC HAEL TENENBAUM
FREDERICK DENYS RICHARDSON elected in 1976 as a Foreign Asso-
ciate of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), died on Sep-
tember 8, 1983. He was Emeritus Professor of Extraction
Metallurgy at the Imperial College of Science and Technology. His
death has been described by one of his peers as the passing of "the
last of the four apostles of Chemical Metallurgy." This group-
Denys Richardson, John Chipman, Carl Wagner, and Lawrence
Darken shaped the field of chemical metallurgy into an exact and
rigorous science. In his lifetime Professor Richardson became recog-
nized for his scientific and practical mind, as well as his unique
ability to generate basic data and to apply such fundamental knowl-
edge to large-scale industrial systems.
Denys Richardson (his friends generally omitted the "Frederick")
was born in London, England, on September 17, 1913. He was
orphaned at the age of six with two older brothers and one younger
sister. He received his early education at a small, independent, boys'
boarding school. What this small school lacked in size it made up in
its work-ethic beliefs. Its teaching schedule started with a prepara-
tory session before breakfast and then proceeded through a day-long
rigorous academic program. During holidays students were exposed
. .. . ~ .
to more practice activities, ranging trom carpentry to nature won Is,
with ample time devoted to encouraging hobbies. Throughout his
busy career Denys Richardson exploited this early training by using
his wonderful mind not only to generate new knowledge, but also to
work creatively with his hands.
241
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242
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
He received his B.Sc. (chemistry) in 1933, his Ph.D. in 1936 from
University College, and his D.Sc. (metallurgy) in 1955 from Lon-
don University. In 1937 he went to America as a Commonwealth
Fellow, and returned to England shortly before the outbreak of
World War II. Shortly after his return he entered the Royal Naval
Volunteer Reserve, and in 1943 he became Deputy Director of the
Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development, Admiralty
England. Among other things, it was here that he contributed nota-
bly to the development of countermeasures to the magnetic mines
that were infesting the waters surrounding the British Isles. His work
in the Admiralty concerned the degaussing of ships and the sweeping
of magnetic mines. He also invented the two-pounder star shell used
by the British Coastal Command. He rose to the rank of Com-
mander in the Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve (RNVR). His co-
workers in the Royal Navy describe the "cheerfully unorthodox
style, with which he tackled difficult problems connected with the
war at sea, as almost legendary. "
Denys Richardson's achievements in the Admiralty brought him
scientific recognition which, after the war, led to his selection to join
the newly established British Iron and Steel Research Association
(BISRA). At BISRA he supervised the development of an outstand-
ing chemistry department. In 1950 he made the permanent transi-
tion to academia by accepting the post of Nuff~eld Fellow at Imperial
College. In 1957 he was appointed Professor of Extraction Metal-
lurgy, a chair that he occupied for more than twenty years. It was
during this period that he formed the John Percy Group in Process
Metallurgy with support from industry and the Nuff~eld Founda-
tion. He retired in 1976 but remained very active in the posts of
Senior Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Extraction
Metallurgy.
Throughout his teaching career Professor Richardson dedicated
himself to seeking out promising students with inquiring minds and
took pride in his ability to help them fulfill their potential. He was an
inspiring teacher to those who were fortunate enough to hear his
lectures or collaborate in his research. He would say, "Give me a
student who asks questions not one with his head crammed with
second hand information. " He obtained great satisfaction when the
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FREDERICK DENYS RICHARDSON
243
steady flow of young men emerging from his classroom occupied
important posts in academic institutions and leadership positions in
industries all over the world.
Professor Richardson published extensively in the field of chemi-
cal metallurgy, contributing basic information on thermodynamic
properties of metals and slag solutions, explaining the thermody-
namic aspects that control large-scale smelting and refining proc-
esses, clarifying the factors that govern the kinetics of gas-metal
reactions, and identifying the characteristics that influence mass
transfer in high-temperature metallurgical processes. His classic
two-volume work, The Physical Ch~rn~stry of Melts in Metallurgy, pub-
lished in 1974, is regarded as a standard text on the subject. These
volumes, along with many of his 125 or so major technical papers,
are outstanding references for those engaged in high-temperature
metallurgical chemistry research, development, and teaching.
In his lifetime, Professor Richardson received special recognition
from learned societies and institutions in Great Britain, the United
States, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Japan. In addition
to his election as a Foreign Associate of the NAE in 1976, he was a
Charter Fellow of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgi-
cal Engineers; Fellow of the Royal Society, London; Fellow of the
Metals Society, London; Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Met-
allurgy, London; Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers,
London; Fellow of University College, London; and Fellow of the
Fellowship of Engineering, London.
Other awards received were the Sir George BielLy Memorial
Award from the Royal Institute of Chemistry and Society of Chemi-
cal Industry; the Bessemer Cold Medal Award from the Iron and
Steel Institute, London; the Gold Medal from the Institute of Min-
ing and Metallurgy, London; the Gold Medal from the American
Society of Metals; the Peter Tunner Medal from Eisenhutten Oester-
reich, Austria; the Grande Medaille from Societe Fran~aise de Met-
allurgie; and the Carl Lueg Medal from Verein Deutsche Eisenhut-
tenleute. He was an Honorary Member of the Japan Institute of
Metals, an Honorary Doctor of the Universite de Liege in Belgium,
and received the Dr. Ing. h.c. from the R. W. Technische Hoch-
schule in Germany.
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Shortly before his death, Denys Richardson was awarded the
Kelvin Medal for application of science to industry. He was the first
metallurgist to receive this great honor.
It might seem from his many accomplishments that Denys
Richardson was preoccupied with research and teaching, but the
opposite is true. He had a great love for beautiful objects, which he
not only admired but also created. He was an ardent gardener, and
those of us who were fortunate enough to visit his home derived
great pleasure from the results of his aesthetic talents. He shared his
warmth, charm, humor, and love with a gracious wife, Irene, and
two sons, Hugh and Rodney, each of whom reflect his wonderful
disposition, intelligence, and quick wit. His wife describes him
fondly as an "exceptionally clearheaded person with a keen and
observant eye, who could concentrate exclusively on the work before
him, as the surrounding tumult passed over his head." He took
great pains over details and pruned and pruned again whatever he
wrote. His speeches were always carefully timed. Yet within this
rigid framework he could flash out a quip or a play on words that
delighted his audiences. His colleagues admired him for his bril-
liance, and his family loved him for being the wonderful husband
and father they were so fortunate to share with all of us.
His death creates a void in the field of metallurgical chemistry. But
a great tribute to this man will be the ongoing contributions to the
understanding of chemical metallurgy that will be made by the
students and colleagues who have benefited from the scientific foun-
dation that was his legacy to them. His reward would be the satisfac-
tion of knowing that the generation he guided and inspired has
demonstrated some measure of the rare vision and talent that was
Frederick Denys Richardson.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
frederick denys
