THE GRIFFITH MEDAL
Professor Hans Richard
Professor Hans RICHARD is awarded the Griffith Medal for his outstanding research in the field of
mixed mode fracture of materials an in numerical modeling of complex fatigue crack growth paths, on the
occasion of ECF 15, Stockholm, 2004.
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Hans Albert Richard was born in Brechen, Germany in 1949. He obtained a degree in mechanical
engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern in 1974. From 1974 to 1980 he was a scientific
assistant in the Institute of Engineering Mechanics, University of Kaiserslautern.
In 1979 he was awarded a PhD by the University of Kaiserslautern. His thesis title is ‘Determination of stress intensity factors from photoelastic determined notch stresses’.
From 1980 to 1986 he was chief engineer in the Institute of Engineering Mechanics, University of Kaiserslautern.
In 1984 he was awarded his postdoctoral lecturer qualification; the thesis title is ‘Prediction of fracture
due to overlapping normal- and shear loading as well as pure shear loading of cracks’. Since 1986 he has been
Professor of Engineering Mechanics in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Paderborn.
From 1989 to 1991 Professor Richard was Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and from 1991 to 1995
Rector of the University of Paderborn.
From 1985 to 1991 he led the German Working Group on Mixed Mode Problems, and from 1999 to 2003 he was President
of the German Fracture Research Group. He has organised national and international Conferences
(‘Mixed-Mode-Fracture and Fatigue’, Wien, 1991; ‘Advances in Fracture and Damage Mechanics’, Paderborn, 2003).
Professor Richard has over 170 publications in the fields of fracture mechanics and biomechanics.
At the University of Paderborn Professor Richard’s work has covered a wide range of topics including
strength optimisation and fracture safe design of structures and components, biomechanical analyses of the
human musculoskeletal system, new railway technology, product optimisation and new development
in cooperation with industry, and failure analysis.
Professor Richard has a long standing interest in mixed mode fracture mechanics, dating back to the early 1980s,
and this has developed into an interest in crack paths in complex three dimensional situations. Particularly
noteworthy is his computer based theoretical prediction of crack paths where he has been able to obtain good
agreement with experimental data determined under static and fatigue loading. His work is particularly notable
for an innovative approach where he has not been afraid to challenge established wisdom.
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THE WÖHLER MEDAL
Professor Les Pook
Professor Leslie POOK is awarded the Wöhler Medal for his outstanding
contributions to the understanding of fatigue crack growth behaviour, especially those devoted to mixed
mode loading, on the occasion of ECF 15, Stockholm, 2004.
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Leslie Philip (Les) Pook was born in Middlesex, England in 1935.
He obtained a BSc in metallurgy from the University of London in 1956. He started his career at Hawker
Siddeley Aviation Ltd, Coventry (HSA) in 1956. In 1963 he moved to the National Engineering Laboratory,
East Kilbride, Glasgow (NEL). In 1969, while at NEL he obtained a PhD in mechanical engineering from the
University of Strathclyde. Professor Pook moved to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University
College London (UCL) in 1990. He retired formally in 1998, but is still affiliated to UCL as a Visiting
Professor, and remains active in research and reaching. Professor Pook has wide experience of both
research and practical engineering problems involving metal fatigue, brittle fracture and fracture mechanics.
In these fields he has published four books and over 100 papers. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
At HSA he worked in the Mechanical Test Laboratory (MTL) on the static and fatigue testing of aircraft
and guided missile components and structures. Both constant amplitude and block loading were used in fatigue
tests. By 1959 interest in the practical application of fractography was increasing and he was asked to
investigate this technique. Due to his efforts the use of fractography as an adjunct to both fatigue testing
and failure analysis rapidly became routine. Over the next four years he was involved in dozens of fractographic
investigations.
His work at NEL covered a wide range of topics, including the following. Collaboration with Frost and Denton
on the analysis of accumulated fatigue crack growth and threshold data in terms of stress intensity factors.
The resulting paper, published in 1971, was very widely cited. Pioneering work on mixed mode fatigue crack growth
thresholds resulted in a series of papers (1975-1991). He published a seminal paper on the application of fracture
mechanics to spot welds in 1975. He made a major contribution to the development of standard load histories for
fatigue testing relevant to offshore structures and this resulted in a series of papers (1976-1989); he published
a seminal paper in 1978.
Work at UCL covered a wide range of topics, particularly noteworthy are series of papers on topics relevant to
the fatigue of offshore structures (1990-1998) and on fatigue crack paths (1992-2003). To some extent this was a
period of consolidation and he published two books, in 2000 and 2002. From 1990-1998 he was Editor in Chief of
International Journal of Fatigue. In recent years he has been increasingly active in the affairs of the European
Structural Integrity Society (ESIS), and he was co-chairman, with Professor Andrea Carpinteri, of the International
Conference on Fatigue Crack Paths, sponsored by ESIS, held at the University of Parma, Italy in September 2003.
He is a Guest Editor of a forthcoming Special Issue of Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures
which will contain extended versions of selected papers from the Conference. Since formal retirement in 1998 he
has maintained his enthusiasm for fatigue but has also found time to pursue interests in horology and in
recreational mathematics.
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AWARD OF MERIT
Professor Keith Miller
Professor Keith MILLER is awarded the Award of Merit for his outstanding contributions to the field
of fatigue and for his work devoted to the advancement
of the European Structural Integrity Society, on the occasion of ECF 15, Stockholm, 2004.
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The contribution of Keith Miller, ex-president of ESIS, to the study of engineering
fatigue and fracture has been immense. A man of prodigious energy, drive and
enthusiasm, he has led his university, his country and many international groups in the
study of important effects in the failure of engineering mechanical systems.
Short cracks and microstructural influences, notches, multi-axial behaviour, mixed
mode effects, fretting, and creep-fatigue interactions are just some of the areas in
which he has contributed. Having established an internationally recognised research
team at Cambridge, he came to Sheffield, his base ever since. His team and influence
there grew rapidly. He was a pioneer in recognising the importance of true
interdisciplinary work, a major feature in his formation of SIRIUS (Structural
Integrity Research Institute Univeristy of Sheffield), a research centre with strong
collaboration between three separate university departments.
He founded the international journal Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials
and Structures early in the life of SIRIUS and was its editor for 22 years. He has been
a strong and active supporter of ESIS from the beginning, with special contributions
to its publications activities. His efforts in the development of ESIS finally led to a presidency.
He was one of the first into China when it opened its doors to outsiders, and he began
a rich and continuing stream of research collaborations between Chinese and
European engineers and scientists. But his travels have also been driven by his other
great love, exploration and mountaineering. He organised and led expeditions all over
the world, Greenland, Iceland, Antarctica, the Karakorum included. From this came
his contributions to the study of continental drift and the properties of ice.
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HONORARY MEMBERSHIP
Professor Ad Bakker
Professor Ad BAKKER is awarded the Honorary Membership for his many valuable
contributions to the field of fracture mechanics and for his work devoted to the development of the European
Structural Integrity Society, on the occasion of ECF 15, Stockholm, 2004.
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Ad Bakker has been involved with ESIS and its predecessor, EGF, for many years.
He was Secretary-General of EGF, and later of ESIS, from 1984 to 1998 under the presidencies of Harry van Elst,
Hannes Larsson, Ian Milne and Dominique François. He was organiser or co-organiser of several major conferences
(ECF6, Amsterdam, 1986, ICM7, The Hague, 1987). Professor Bakker was Initiator and Editor of the EGF (later ESIS)
Newsletter from 1987 to 1997, a total of 31 issues. He had to stop active participation in ESIS in 1998 because
of health problems, but since then he has acted as consultant to the Executive Committee of ESIS (now the Council)
on various occasions.
General Secretary is a poor description of Professor Bakker’s position: he was also responsible for the finances
of ESIS, the membership, the Newsletter, printing and circulation of ESIS reports and documents, attending
to external requests, and maintaining external contacts. In replying to external requests and suggestions he
was unfailingly courteous. His contribution to EGF and ESIS has been immense, and it is no exaggeration to say
that ESIS as it is today is very much a creature of his design. In earlier days, he was more than just General
Secretary, but as right hand man to Harry van Elst he did all the leg-work.
There are many examples of how Ad Bakker managed the affairs of ESIS beneficially. An important one is that
he ensured that ESIS was registered as a non-profit organisation in The Netherlands, thus avoiding the payment
of tax. ESIS also benefited from being run within his department at Delft University of Technology, so that many
of the costs of the ESIS operation were covered not only directly, but also in kind (secretarial effort, typing
the Newsletter, circulating it, etc.). His close involvement with the operation was essential in the drafting
of the first edition of the ESIS rules and bye-laws, which followed the change of name from EGF to ESIS.
He also gave advice on the myriad of issues which would come up from day to day, and more significantly
in the biennial Council meetings.
All this was in addition to being Head of Department, running a research team, and writing some significant papers.
Just how much Professor Bakker had been doing for ESIS only became completely clear when, in 1998, the ESIS
Secretariat was transferred from Delft University of Technology to the University of Sheffield,
under Professor Keith J Miller, who also undertook the Presidency of ESIS for two years.
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