INCO Medal - Winner 1998
James Keith Brimacombe, O.C., F.R.S.C., F.C.A.E., P.Eng., (Posthumously)Vancouver, BC
“For outstanding contributions to the internationally recognized promotion of metallurgical process engineering research and education; and pioneering applications of fundamental engineering principles and mathematical modeling to industrial process metallurgical analysis and design.”
Accepted by his daughters, Jane and Kathryn.
Professor at the University of British Columbia, and President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Keith Brimacombe was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia. He received his B.Sc. From The University of British Columbia in 1966, and his Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from Imperial College, University of London in 1970. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1994. During his career at the University of British Columbia, his research lead to major advances in metallurgical engineering processes that earned him the distinction of being an intellectual giant in his field. As founding director of the Centre for Metallurgical Process and Engineering, his approach to the study of metallurgical processes altered the discipline. His exceptional creativity and intellectual rigour contributed to remarkable advances of a range of processes spanning both the ferrous and non-ferrous industries in Canada and around the world.
Dr. Brimacombe was an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering (U.S.A.) and a Fellow of CIM, of the Metals, Minerals and Materials Society, of the Royal Society of Canada, of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a Distinguished Member of the Iron and Steel Society. For his efforts, he has received numerous national and international awards and several best paper awards. Among the many prestigious awards he received were the NSERC Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, the Killam Memorial Prize, E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, Ernest C. Manning Principle Prize reserved for a Canadian “who has shown outstanding talent in conceiving and developing new concepts, procedures, processes or products of potential benefit to Canada and society at large,” and the Metallurgical Society of CIM’s Alcan Award. His citation on receiving the Order of Canada reads, “An internationally acclaimed engineer and scientist, he is an advocate of cooperation between universities and industry and a founder of the Centre of Metallurgical Process Engineering. His research, utilizing computerized, mathematical analyses, has put Canada in the forefront in metals processing, particularly the steel industry.” He joined CIM in 1967 and served as President of the Metallurgical Society of CIM from 1985 to 1986.