Friday 3 July 2015

[ ::: ♥Keep_Mailing♥ ::: ]™ KENYA BORN KNIGHTED

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Kenya-born Cambridge Professor knighted : 'world leader in metallurgy'

Harshad Bhadeshia, a metallurgist at the University of Cambridge, UK, was
 knighted for his work in developing new types of steel that have made him 
"perhaps the world leader in metallurgy", according to the official citation.
The honours were announced on 12 June, for Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday.

Harry Bhadeshia

Harry Bhadeshia FRS, born in 1953 in Kenya, is Tata Steel Professor of 
Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, 
University of Cambridge. His research is concerned with the understanding and 
development of particular crystalline structures in steels, with applications 
including rail steel (used in the Channel Tunnel) and 'super bainite' armour. 
He emigrated to the UK (London) ... with his parents in 1970. As a technician in
 the British Oxygen company, Edmonton, London he completed an Ordinary 
National Certificate in Sciences at East Ham College of Technology and a degree in
 Metallurgy at the City of London Polytechnic, 1973-1976. His PhD in the 
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy [DMM], University of Cambridge [UOS]
 was completed in 1979 and followed by a Science Research Council Fellowship, 
1979-1981. Since 1981 he has been an academic scientist in the DMM, UOS.
Read less

  • Birth name:  Harshad Bhadeshia
  • Born: 1953, Kenya
  • Occupation: Metallurgist
  • Disciplines: Materials Science
  • Education: University of Cambridge

Harry Bhadeshia's Steel Connects UK, France

Scientist Harry Bhadeshia�s passion for steel has helped him invent some of the best alloys of the metal
 
  
Harry Bhadeshia's Steel Connects UK, France
Image: Junng Yeon-Je/ AFP Photo for Forbes India
Every year, 17 million people use the Channel Tunnel, the undersea rail network 
that connects the United Kingdom with north of France. Considered as one of 
the Seven Wonders of the modern world, 37.9 km of the 50.5 km-long tunnel
 passes under the sea. To make sure that each and every part of this sophisticated 
transport network is as safe as possible, authorities recently opted for
 a new kind of steel that is used to lay the tracks. 


Unlike the earlier version, the new steel doesn't have any carbide and is rich in
 silicon. In other words, while the new steel is hard and wear-resistant, it is not
 brittle like the earlier steel, making it much safer. The authorities had 
tested the new steel for 15 years before clearing it.  

For Harry Bhadeshia, who led the team that along with British Steel (that eventually became 
Corus and later acquired by Tata Steel) invented the steel, this only reiterated his belief
 that the metal has an "unbelievable variety that remains unseen by the outside world." 

This is not the only invention that has come out of the lab of the renowned metallurgy
 scientist and Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge in
 his 40-year research career. From making better steel pipes to transport oil to coming
 out with a 'unthinkable' and 'super strong' steel that is now being tested in defence and 
aviation sectors, Bhadeshia's research has invoked serious debates and produced 
inventions worth millions of dollars, and much more in impact.

Looking back, it only seemed natural that Bhadeshia would choose a career in research. 
Growing up in Kenya, where he was born to his Indian parents, one of the fondest 
memories for Bhadeshia was a "small laboratory with a chemistry set, a plastic skeleton, 
a microscope, a self-assembly radio set and a variety of electrical items" 
that his parents had helped to set up. 

By the time he finished his schooling in 1970, the family was forced to leave Kenya 
and move to London. This was when "fate," as Bhadeshia's friends term it, came into play. 
Keen to contribute to his family, the teenager landed a job at a metallurgical 
lab owned by the British Oxygen Company. 

In the lab, he got hooked to the "excitement and responsibility" that came in testing 
tiny samples, whose results were crucial in building large plants. . 

The fascination turned into a passion when Bhadeshia explored the world of steel, 
which was complicated and at the same time had an "unbelievable variety" that remains 
unseen by the world at large. Explains Bhadeshia: "Every year, 1.3 billion tonnes of
 steel is produced, but there is no need for the outside world to understand it…it is a
 product made in an extremely sophisticated and controlled environment…it is so reliable
that no one needs to worry about it. On the other hand, everyone needs to worry about the
 operating software in their computers as these are not very well developed products!"

In 1979, when Bhadeshia published his doctorate thesis at Cambridge, an old, but 
still simmering debate was ignited once again. Since the 1930s, the metallurgy
 community had been debating on the process that leads to "phase transformation" 
of steel. Bhadeshia showed that one of the phases in steel, bainite, is formed through 
a process of "diffusionless transformation" and not by "diffusional transformation." 

Says Bhadeshia's former Cambridge student S.B. Singh, who is now professor, 
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at IIT Kharagpur: 
"His work settled the debate. Sure, there are still some who would think otherwise, but
 even my studies thereafter have vindicated Professor Bhadeshia's thesis."

Immediately after the blockbuster start to his career, the Fellow of elite Royal Academy 
of Engineering focussed on research at the intersection of lab and its practical
 application in plants. "We usually claim that findings in the lab can be extrapolated 
to large-scale production. But I realised that in a lab we try to oversimplify the practical 
challenges of running a plant…in labs we tend to reduce the problem and find solutions 
without worrying about the original problem. By collaborating with
 industry, we can avoid this," says the scientist.

Not surprisingly, two of Bhadeshia's most influential findings have come at
 this intersection—the rail steel used in the Channel Tunnel and
 superbainite. The second is Bhadeshia's personal favourite. 

"It is the strongest low alloy steel ever produced and is more than six times
 stronger than 'mild' or conventional steel. It is also the world's first bulk nanostructured
 material. Superbainite is something that people couldn't even think of being possible,"
 says T. Mukherjee, a metallurgist and former joint managing director at Tata Steel. 

Meanwhile, Bhadeshia continues to be a teacher and a guide to research students. 
His lectures in Cambridge are popular for simplifying complicated scientific theories. 
"At those rare times when he doesn't know the answer to a student's question, he is honest 
enough to admit it and asks for time before he can get back with the answer," says Singh.
 Adds Bhadeshia's Cambridge colleague Mathew Peet: "He always makes a great
 contribution and expects/demands a high level of quality. This means we 
can produce much better research by working with Harry."

Outside the lab and the classroom, Bhadeshia bonds with students by talking about
 cinema over a cup of coffee or tea. More often, he has everyone in splits with his 
"corny jokes." When the conversation does lead to metallurgy, a tech-savvy Bhadeshia 
uses his smartphone to draw pictures to make his point clear. These talks have also
 led to useful innovations. "His students in South Korea made some applications for 
the smartphone so it is possible to index electron diffraction pattern or make calculation 
about steel transformation using the phone these days," says Peet.  

Even when in India, Bhadeshia likes to keep interacting with students. The affable
 scientist has "strong links" with Tata Steel and has made a few trips to the steelmaker's facility.
 "At Jamshedpur, even while Bhadeshia would spend time with company officials at
 the plant, he loved to go to local schools and spend time with them," says Mukherjee. 

Bhadeshia has also had other collaborations in the country of his origin. This 
includes sabbaticals at IIT Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, 
where he has held mathematical modelling workshops. This year, in November, the 
scientist will be in attendance when IIT Kharagpur inaugurates a new steel research centre. 
He is also working on a project at the institute that is trying to
 develop a new steel plate material. 

"There is a lot of work on steel that is being done in India," says Bhadeshia. In February,
 his lecture on steel in South Korea will be attended by scientists from
 the Atomic Power Station in Kalpakkam via a video link. 

When not sweating it out in his labs, Bhadeshia likes playing squash. But this is
 when he is at home in London. Right now the scientist is in South Korea helping the
 Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) set up 12 laboratories
 to cover all aspects of steel. In everything that he does, Bhadeshia follows a simple rule:
 "The goal is simply to be much higher than the reach."

This article appeared in the Forbes India magazine issue of 02 March, 2012


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