Keith Joseph Bullock FTSE (1931–2015) was an engineer and academic at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

Early life

Bullock was born in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1931. He attended Moorooka State School and the

Church of England Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Q ...

. Bullock enrolled in the engineering program at the

in 1948, gaining his B.E. with first class honours in 1952. He won a number of prizes and the Alfred Henry Darker scholarship.

Career

Bullock was employed as a demonstrator after graduation. He commenced his PhD under supervisor Professor Mansergh Shaw. Bullock graduated with his PhD in 1957, the first engineering student to complete a PhD at the University of Queensland. His thesis studied the physical properties and milling of sugar cane with an aim to improve the costs and efficiency of machinery within sugar mills, particularly in Australia. His research was enabled by grants from the Colonial Sugar Refining Company and the Sugar Research Institute, and led to improvements in milling processes. Bullock married physiotherapist and fellow UQ graduate Margaret Roberts in 1957 and they moved to

Boston, USA Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

to take up a Fulbright Fellowship he was offered at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He would pursue research there in addition to teaching graduate classes. Bullock continued his association with Harvard University as a guest lecturer. Bullock and his family returned to Australia in 1960, where he took a position as a lecturer at the University of Queensland in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Bullock pursued research in a number of areas including hybrid and electric transmissions for cars and heavy duty road vehicles to reduce fuel usage and emissions. In the 1970s he pioneered research into hybrid vehicles, converting a

Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * Fo ...

to run on a small internal combustion engine with battery and flywheel energy storage, with Dr Duncan Gilmore. He and Dr Frank Grigg, worked on a re-design of power trains used in underground load haul dump vehicles. He produced designs for submarines, buses and freight train locomotives. He developed a number of power system design improvements. Bullock became Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1975, and became Dean of Engineering in 1983. He encouraged the relocation of research into hypersonic test facilities to Queensland. Bullock retired from the university in 1991 and continued in private work for Transport Energy Systems, a company which he established the same year. Bullock died in 2015, and was survived by his wife Margaret and their two children.

Memberships and awards

* Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineering * Member, Society of Automotive Engineers of Australasia * Fellow,

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...

(including Chairman of Queensland branch) * Fellow, Institute of Engineers Australia * Rodda Award for outstanding work on a multi-purpose hybrid vehicle in 1982 * SAE Excellence Award (J.E. Batchelor Award) for the most outstanding written paper, in 1986. * President, Staff and Graduates Club of the University of Queensland * UQ Centenary Medal, for service to Australian society in energy research and development

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Keith Australian engineers 1931 births 2015 deaths University of Queensland alumni Academic staff of the University of Queensland Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering