Swinburne University of Technology expert wins Bessemer Gold Medal

Through a generous gift in memory of one of Australia’s leading furnace engineers, Robert “Bob” Simpson, provided Swinburne the funds to establish the High Temperature Laboratory in the Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC). 

The lab has been key to developing a sustainable materials industry through the development and optimisation of recycling processes and the containment and processing of waste generated from metal and materials production.  

In the decade since the establishment of the Simpson High Temperature Laboratory, researchers have won many major awards both locally and from international organisations. 

The award legacy
The Bessemer Medal was established and endowed to the Iron and Steel Institute in 1874 by one of the giants of the industrial revolution, Sir Henry Bessemer. 

Previous winners include Queen Victoria (1899), Andrew Carnegie, who led the expansion of the American steel industry (1904), influential BHP director Essington Lewis (1944), basic oxygen steelmaking inventor Robert Durrer (1957), and former Swinburne Dean of Engineering John Beynon (2015). 

“Many of my scientific heroes have won the medal, as well as several captains of industry,” Geoff said. 

“I am humbled to be on the same list as giants in my field.”