Memorial Tributes Volume 23 (2021) / Chapter Skim
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RAYMOND E. SMALLMAN
RAYMOND E. SMALLMAN
Pages 288-297
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From page 289... ...
He lived most of his early life near Cannock in Staffordshire and, throughout the hard times of the 1930s and then the war years, helped in the family fish and chip shop and general store. With his father away in the Royal Air Force, the running of the shop depended on the collective efforts of the remainder of the family.
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From page 290... ...
He then stayed on to do a PhD on the structure of cold worked metals under the joint supervision of Cottrell and Kingsley Williamson. His PhD thesis, "An Investigation into the Crystal Structure of Cold Worked Metals," was published in 1953, the same year he coauthored two papers for publication in the very first edition of Acta Metallurgica.1 In 1953 Ray left Birmingham to join the Metallurgy Division at AERE (Atomic Energy Research Establishment)
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From page 291... ...
A vital tool for these studies was an electron microscope, not, as mentioned, a standard piece of kit in those days. Cottrell, as chair of the Metallurgy Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was instrumental in Ray's acquiring Birmingham's very first electron microscope: Ray submitted a research proposal for a transmission electron microscope (TEM)
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From page 292... ...
For example, much of the ancillary equipment was designed and built inhouse, employing the magnificent skills of the departmental workshop staff, and the students were involved not only in these activities but also in building partitions, covering bench tops, painting walls, and even helping to construct a hardboard box that was proudly christened the electron microscope laboratory. At the time there were no purpose-built laboratories and the physical metallurgy research laboratories were quite close to the Physics Department.
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From page 293... ...
For more than 40 years the facilities coped well with the demands, a tribute to the foresight of those early, democratic discussions. In 1966 Mike Loretto joined the department, an appointment that underpinned the department's TEM activities and ensured that they would continue to evolve and explore new territories while Ray became more involved in administrative and strategic matters in both the department and the wider university.
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From page 294... ...
The facility provided a considerable stimulus to the department's TEM research activities, especially those involving plastic deformation, environmental cell oxidation, and highenergy electron-induced radiation damage in a variety of materials. In 1981 one of Ray's long-term objectives was achieved with the unification of the two departments with the Centre for Materials Science to form the new Department of Metallurgy and Materials.
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From page 295... ...
He formally retired from the university in 1993 and became an emeritus professor. In addition to his illustrious career at Birmingham, he held visiting appointments in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, University of California– Berkeley, and Case Western Reserve University; and in Cape Town, South Africa; New South Wales, Australia; Hong Kong; and Novi Sad, former Yugoslavia.
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From page 296... ...
But he did not succumb to these temptations; instead, he formulated a strategy and stuck with it, and through a combination of hard work, luck, and good judgment ensured the long-term health of metallurgy at Birmingham. We owe it to his legacy and to his memory to continue to resist the forces of short-termism and the view that "big is always beautiful." Ray is survived by Doreen, Lesley-Ann, and Robert; and seven grandchildren.
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