Metallurgy in the University of Birmingham

Abstract

THE University of Birmingham has received a gift of nearly £137,000 from constituent associations and members of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Federation. This munificent gift has been made in response to an appeal recently issued for £250,000 for the development of the Department of Metallurgy. The University intends to expand this Department to meet the need which has been repeatedly expressed by industry for more metallurgists. In addition to studying metallurgical science to the highest attainable level, the science of metallurgical production is being studied and new courses developed, which will be designed to provide industry with men specially qualified to apply new knowledge to industrial processes. In order to facilitate these new studies, a division of the Department has been created to study industrial metallurgy. This will not be regarded as an alternative subject to metallurgical science ; courses of study for all students will be identical, at a high scientific level, until a late stage in the honours course, and any specialization will be confined to a relatively small portion of the degree course. Industrial metallurgy will be pursued intensively, principally as a subject for study by graduates in the same way as metallurgical science to-day is most completely dealt with in the universities of Britain. The Department of Metallurgy at Birmingham will be a unified department in which it is hoped to effect for all students an appropriate balance between the scientific and industrial aspects of the subject. Prof. D. Hanson, who has been professor of metallurgy for many years, has now been joined by Prof. L. Aitchison as professor of industrial metallurgy (see Nature, February 23, p. 222). It is hoped that graduates from other universities will take advantage of the new Department of Industrial Metallurgy for the purpose of graduate studies, in which appropriate courses will be arranged.