Bodycote is mourning the death of one of its most valued contributors, Professor Tom Bell, FREng. As one of the World’s most highly regarded surface engineering experts, Tom worked tirelessly towards the advancement of his field. Among many other honorary professorships and doctorates, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1997 and held the Hanson Chair of Metallurgy at Birmingham. In addition, he had just been made an Academician of the Chinese Institute of Mechanical Engineers, a rare honour for a Westerner.
Tom, who would have been 67 next month, died on Thursday 17th April surrounded by family after losing his battle with cancer. Tom was closely involved with the Bodycote Group for almost forty years and from the inception of Bodycote’s annual Prize Paper Competition, was a judge on its panel. Professor Harold Hankins CBE, Chairman of Bodycote’s Educational Foundation, talks about his memories of Professor Bell:
“Tom has been associated with Bodycote for many years and particularly in recent years as one of the judges of the Bodycote Prize Paper Competition. He was a staunch supporter of Bodycote’s links with universities, and through his Professorship at Birmingham University he could always be relied upon to advance this particular cause.
Tom’s illness prevented him from attending the 12th final of the Prize Paper Competition which was held only this week on 15 April, but he was present at all 11 previous finals. More often than not one of his students reached the final of the competition where he would excuse himself from the final judgement of the winners. He could always be relied upon to pose seemingly simple questions to the finalists, but in reality, the answers required a full understanding of the subject matter by the student otherwise he or she was left floundering in their answers. It is perhaps fitting indeed that the winner of the 2008 Best Postgraduate Technical Paper was yet another student from Birmingham University.
Tom was probably the most distinguished and leading academic in this country in terms of Heat Treatment, and this reputation was widely recognised overseas, particularly in China, where he held the post of Distinguished Professor in Xian Jiaotong University. It was there in 2007 that Tom organised the provision of a Chinese student finalist for the 2008 Prize Paper Competition in conjunction with the Chinese Institute for Materials.
His distinguished research at Birmingham University led to his election as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, thereby recognising him as one of the top 1000 engineers of all categories in the UK. He had an impish sense of humour typical of the scouse wit that he used to good effect. Bodycote has lost not only a colleague and a good friend but also someone who touched us with his breadth of knowledge and experience of an industry in which we all strive to prosper. Goodbye old friend, we shall never forget you.”
In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Tom’s passion for his subject touched many people, but perhaps none more so than Brian Birch, Bodycote’s Group Director of SHE Compliance, who recounts his long friendship with Professor Bell:
“It would take a substantial volume to record all of Professor Bell’s achievements. Hopefully, one day the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE), the organisation he helped to found and for which he worked tirelessly for some four decades, will be prevailed upon to produce such a book. This is not the place to even begin the book, but merely to record how he came to Bodycote.
As a new undergraduate, I entered Liverpool University in 1967 to find that Tom was my tutor. For nine of the next ten years, I worked for Tom as an undergraduate, then as a postgraduate student and, finally, in paid employment as the first member of his Heat Treatment Research Group. It was during the early years of the 1970s that he became a consultant to Bodycote Heat Treatments. In 1977, Tom was instrumental in my engagement by Bodycote as their new Technical Manager and, as Chairman of the Board, he played a major role in the company’s early development. Bodycote saw the benefit of having someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of heat treatment and a unique vision for the future.
It does not seem right that such a man is taken from us so early – just a month short of his 67th birthday. The company has lost a tireless worker for its good and I a mentor, a colleague, and lifelong friend. May God be with him.”
Professor Bell’s funeral will be held at 9.30am on Wednesday 23rd April at St Joseph’s Church 40 Warren Road, Blundellsands, Liverpool, L23 6UE.
Bodycote is mourning the death of one of its most valued contributors, Professor Tom Bell, FREng. As one of the World’s most highly regarded surface engineering experts, Tom worked tirelessly towards the advancement of his field. Among many other honorary professorships and doctorates, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1997 and held the Hanson Chair of Metallurgy at Birmingham. In addition, he had just been made an Academician of the Chinese Institute of Mechanical Engineers, a rare honour for a Westerner.
Tom, who would have been 67 next month, died on Thursday 17th April surrounded by family after losing his battle with cancer. Tom was closely involved with the Bodycote Group for almost forty years and from the inception of Bodycote’s annual Prize Paper Competition, was a judge on its panel. Professor Harold Hankins CBE, Chairman of Bodycote’s Educational Foundation, talks about his memories of Professor Bell:
“Tom has been associated with Bodycote for many years and particularly in recent years as one of the judges of the Bodycote Prize Paper Competition. He was a staunch supporter of Bodycote’s links with universities, and through his Professorship at Birmingham University he could always be relied upon to advance this particular cause.
Tom’s illness prevented him from attending the 12th final of the Prize Paper Competition which was held only this week on 15 April, but he was present at all 11 previous finals. More often than not one of his students reached the final of the competition where he would excuse himself from the final judgement of the winners. He could always be relied upon to pose seemingly simple questions to the finalists, but in reality, the answers required a full understanding of the subject matter by the student otherwise he or she was left floundering in their answers. It is perhaps fitting indeed that the winner of the 2008 Best Postgraduate Technical Paper was yet another student from Birmingham University.
Tom was probably the most distinguished and leading academic in this country in terms of Heat Treatment, and this reputation was widely recognised overseas, particularly in China, where he held the post of Distinguished Professor in Xian Jiaotong University. It was there in 2007 that Tom organised the provision of a Chinese student finalist for the 2008 Prize Paper Competition in conjunction with the Chinese Institute for Materials.
His distinguished research at Birmingham University led to his election as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, thereby recognising him as one of the top 1000 engineers of all categories in the UK. He had an impish sense of humour typical of the scouse wit that he used to good effect. Bodycote has lost not only a colleague and a good friend but also someone who touched us with his breadth of knowledge and experience of an industry in which we all strive to prosper. Goodbye old friend, we shall never forget you.”
In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Tom’s passion for his subject touched many people, but perhaps none more so than Brian Birch, Bodycote’s Group Director of SHE Compliance, who recounts his long friendship with Professor Bell:
“It would take a substantial volume to record all of Professor Bell’s achievements. Hopefully, one day the International Federation for Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE), the organisation he helped to found and for which he worked tirelessly for some four decades, will be prevailed upon to produce such a book. This is not the place to even begin the book, but merely to record how he came to Bodycote.
As a new undergraduate, I entered Liverpool University in 1967 to find that Tom was my tutor. For nine of the next ten years, I worked for Tom as an undergraduate, then as a postgraduate student and, finally, in paid employment as the first member of his Heat Treatment Research Group. It was during the early years of the 1970s that he became a consultant to Bodycote Heat Treatments. In 1977, Tom was instrumental in my engagement by Bodycote as their new Technical Manager and, as Chairman of the Board, he played a major role in the company’s early development. Bodycote saw the benefit of having someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of heat treatment and a unique vision for the future.
It does not seem right that such a man is taken from us so early – just a month short of his 67th birthday. The company has lost a tireless worker for its good and I a mentor, a colleague, and lifelong friend. May God be with him.”
Professor Bell’s funeral will be held at 9.30am on Wednesday 23rd April at St Joseph’s Church 40 Warren Road, Blundellsands, Liverpool, L23 6UE.
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