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International Symposium honours Brunel Professor Associate John Hunt

Integrated Programme Assessment
The greatest names in the science of solidification and casting met at Brunel University in December for an International Symposium in honour of the career of Professor John Hunt and in celebration of his 75th birthday.
 
Hosted by the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST) and chaired by Professor Zhongyun Fan, the Symposium attracted over 100 delegates from 16 countries, including Australia, China, Canada, Japan and the US.
 
Professor John Hunt FRS is known around the world for his seminal contributions to the science and technology of solidification. In recognition of these scientific achievements, he has received numerous honours and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford and Professor Associate at BCAST.
 
In addition to honouring John’s career, the symposium aimed to celebrate the solidification research that he has inspired, and that has inspired him, throughout the past 50 years. Participants included John’s former colleagues, distinguished researchers in the field and members of a new generation of scientists, and contributions included historical accounts of solidification and casting, overviews of particular aspects of solidification and descriptions of exciting new developments.
 
A selection of the papers presented at the conference has been published in a special hardback proceedings entitled Solidification Science and Technology, edited by BCAST's Professor Fan and Dr Ian Stone.
 
At a celebratory dinner, Andrew Ward, Director of Corporate Relations, gave a light-hearted retrospective of John’s life and career, and three long standing colleagues, Professor Ken Jackson (University of Arizona), Professor Peter Lee (University of Manchester) and Professor Wilfried Kurz (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) offered personal tributes. As a memento of the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chris Jenks, presented Professor Hunt with a copy of the proceedings inscribed by all the contributing authors.
 
The Symposium was generously supported by the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers (ICME) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).