Frederick Brian Pickering, AMet, DMet, FIMMM, CEng,

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...

(17 March 1927 - 27 February 2017) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

. His research and development activities contributed significantly to the creation of stronger and lighter

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

s. His notable research and development throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s laid the foundations for much of the physical metallurgy of high strength, low

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

steels. His ''Physical Metallurgy and the Design of Steels'' (, originally published in 1978 by Applied Science Publishers, London), continues to be recommended reading for the majority of metallurgical

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

and materials science university courses. He was born in

Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and ...

, England, in 1927, and was the cousin of footballer

Jack Pickering John Pickering (18 December 1908 – 10 May 1977) was an English footballer who played for Sheffield United between 1925 and 1948. He played in the position of inside left. Pickering learned his football at Barnsley Grammar School and Mortom ...

. He joined the Central Research Department of the

United Steel Companies The United Steel Companies was a steelmaking, engineering, coal mining and coal by-product group based in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. History The company was registered in 1918 and the following year saw a joining together of ste ...

as a junior assistant in the Physics Section in 1943 where he progressed to research assistant, senior metallographer and research supervisor, and then head of the Physical Metallurgy Section. Following the nationalisation of the steel companies in 1967, he became Assistant Research Manager and then Research Manager in Physical Metallurgy, and finally Product Metallurgy Research Manager at the Swinden Laboratories of

British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. In 1972 he was appointed Reader in Metallurgy at Sheffield City Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University), becoming Emeritus

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

in 1989. Pickering was awarded the Sidney Gilchrist Thomas Medal in 1968, and the Sir Robert Hadfield Medal in 1971, both from the

Iron and Steel Institute The Iron and Steel Institute was an English association organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. History The first mee ...

. He was also awarded the

Bessemer Gold Medal The Bessemer Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) "for outstanding services to the steel industry, to the inventor or designer of any significant innovation in the process employed in the manufact ...

in 1994 for outstanding services to the steel industry, by the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

(now IOM3). He was appointed a

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

in 1987. He authored over 160 research publications throughout his career. He died in 2017, survived by his wife and three children.

References

1927 births 2017 deaths People from Sheffield English scientists British metallurgists English engineers Bessemer Gold Medal Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering {{England-engineer-stub