I worked briefly, as a student (holder of a BHP scholarship), at the BHP Central Research Laboratories in Shortland, just after their inauguration in 1957. I have been trying to recall the name of the first director. I remember that the laboratories received a visit from Baron Krupp, which was not widely publicized because of the likelihood of anti-Nazi protests.

I also spent time at the steelworks, which also had its own small research laboratory. There again, I have been trying to recall the names of the metallurgical scientists working there.

William Skyvington
Gamone
38680 Choranche
France

e-mail: sky.william@free.fr

I joined BHP Research Laboratories at Shortland NSW Australia, at the end of 1960, and worked there until August 1997. The director of Research then, was Dr Howard Warner. A few weeks ago, I attended their 50th Golden Jubilee Celebrations. Shame you were not there. There were few of the staff of 1957 there, so it's a pity, that you were not there!
Prior to the opening of CRL, there was a group of scientists,at BHP Reasearch Newcastle Steelworks, led by the famous Dr Ad*censored*, who were active in recruiting staff for the new laboratories at Shortland (CRL).

You probably would have known Howard Warner, Bob Hoskins, Tom Callcott, Laurie Bogan, Fred Wark, Andy Mason, Peter Muir, Jacky Hughes, Campbell Coe, Brian Belcher,Shirley Jarvis, David Young & Graham Mowatt, who were all there when I started.

I would be interested in your recolections of CRL in those days

Ken

This makes an old Steel worker
very happy, Aub
Yes we are out there.

Thanks, Ken Hall, for your interesting information. The director's name, which I had on the tip of my tongue, was of course Dr Warner. I recall too Frank Ad*censored*. Was he in fact the fellow who had done a lot of work in radar, or am I mixing up my memories? I recall that there was a brilliant chap with curly blonde hair. Since I was merely a student at that time, I knew nothing about metallurgy, but I remember being obliged to become an expert in the production of shiny flat-surfaced ferrous specimens housed in tiny black cylinders of something that looked like Bakelite. When I say "flat-surfaced", I really mean it! If my wet abrasive efforts resulted in the slightest curve or bump in the surface of the specimen, it had to be redone from scratch. During my time at Shortland, I happened to become very interested in the topic of symmetry, which is an aspect of the structure of crystals. A few months ago, through Amazon, I purchased a new copy of Weyl's famous book on this subject, which thrilled me back in my student days. The difference between the atmosphere at the steelworks and in Shortland was enormous. It was like traveling to a foreign environment. Recently, here in France, I've become interested in the history of iron and steel in the region where I live, where much of the development was carried out by the Carthusian monks.

I'm having trouble editing my profile on this forum...

Regards,
William [or Bill back in my Newcastle days]