Deceased Corresponding Members

Prof. SILVANA BARTOLUCCI LUYCKX 1938 - 2007  University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Silvana Bartolucci Luyckx was born on September 5, 1938, in Zara, Italy. She grew up in Somalia and completed her first degree in Milan, Italy, and started her Ph.D. in 1963 under the supervision of the late Professor Nabarro. Her research concerned the fracture of WC-Co, that is, cemented carbides. Such materials became the focus of her work until her death. She had also been investigating the effects of additions of South African primary resources, such as vanadium and ruthenium, to cemented carbides, which subsequently led to the development of new materials. Her contributions to the field of hardmetals, which she fondly referred to as her hobby, were recognized by the international hardmetals industry through her many invited papers and contributions at conferences around the world as well as her presence on advisory boards of international conferences and journals.

During her time at Wits (The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) where she came to do a Ph.D. in hard materials, she worked in the Physics Department, the Schonland Centre for Nuclear Sciences and the Department of Metallurgy. She was a Visiting Professor in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering long after she retired. She supervised and mentored many postgraduate students during her time at Wits and in the Centre of Excellence for Strong Materials. Her mentoring, mothering, and successful positioning of students, particularly those disadvantaged, in outside industries is to be praised. She was a Committee member of Italo-South African Culture Center, a Member of Powder Metallurgy Association of South Africa (honorary life. member chairman 1995, chairman 1995-1996), South African Institute of Physics, South African Institute of Tribology. Prof. Silvana Luyckx passed away on November 5, 2007.

Prof. ILIJA KRSTANOVIĆ 1927 - 2011 Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Prof. Ilija Krstanović graduated at Group of Mineralogy and Petrography, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Belgrade in 1951. He defended his doctoral thesis titled „X-ray examination of the structure of the minerals from zircon and monazite group” at the same University in 1961. He was on specialization in the United States at two universities (Pennsylvania State University from 1959 to 1961 and University of Chicago from 1965 to 1966).

Prof. Krstanovic spent full 42 years at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Mining and Geology and the institutions from which this faculty was derived. In 1951, immediately after graduation, he began his teaching and academic career and passed all ranks from teaching assistant to full professor. He laid the foundations of X-ray crystallography at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at University of Belgrade. Krstanovic taught at several members of University of Belgrade: Faculty of Chemistry, Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Physical-chemistry and Faculty of Mining and Geology. It is his acknowledgment that the first modern X-ray crystallographic laboratory was established in Yugoslavia, equipped with the very first automatic single crystal diffractometer and modern computers. He diligently worked on improving the crystallography science through scientific research, education of young scientists and equipment in our Laboratory for X-ray crystallography. When retired, he left behind a modern laboratory, high rank teachers and researchers, and a number of associates who have continued work on the development of crystallography. He will be remembered as a person dedicated to his work, with a cheerful spirit, mild manner and tolerant attitude toward students and colleagues.

Professor Ilija Krstanovic published more than 40 articles in international scientific journals and over 50 papers and communications in national scientific journals. Numerous accomplishments,  especially in the study of crystal structures and new materials (particularly minerals of the serpentine group) attracted significant attention from the international scientific community. He has collaborated with a number of colleagues in the country and abroad. Profesor Krstanovic was the longtime head of the Department of Crystallography, manager of research projects and sub-projects, the honorary president of the Serbian Crystallographic Society. He retired in 1993. He passed away in November 2011.

Dr. DAVOR DUŽEVIĆ 1936 – 2001 Cemented Carbide and Tool Factory SINTAL,  Zagreb, Croatia

Davor Dužević was born on the island of Hvar, Croatia. He comes from a prominent Dalmatian family, with distinctly Yugoslav and pro-European orientation.  He graduated from the Faculty of Physics in Zagreb and defended his doctoral dissertation in 1976 entitled "Principles of Physics of Molybdenum Consolidation", Faculty of Electronics, University of Nis, Serbia. He was able to accomplish all of this under the guidance of Professor Momcilo Ristic, which Davor was especially proud of.

Dr. Dužević was a Professor at Secondary School for Teachers from 1960 -1961 and then went to Cemented Carbide and Tool Factory SINTAL, located in Zagreb, Croatia. He spent most of his professional life there, started from 1961 to 1978 when he started his employment with Electronical Institute “Rade Končar”. He stayed there until his retirement.  

During his entire working life that started in 1961, he had also collaborated with a number of high-level school institutions (Faculties and Institutes), national as well as international: Institute of Physics, Zagreb, Croatia, Faculty of Science, Zagreb, Croatia, Institute of Technical Sciences SASA, Belgrade, Serbia, Jozef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and various institutions in Germany (Wolfgang A. Kaysser being the most prominent one). Thanks to his cooperation with the Institute for Problems of Materials Science the USSR, Kiev, Ukraine (Prof. G.V. Samsonov), he established and exceptional cooperation with Prof. M. M. Ristic, and the two of them achieved some fantastic results in this field.

As a physicist by education, he made a significant contribution to Powder Materials Science in both, the fundamental achievements in the field of transport mechanism materials during sintering, as well as a number of technological achievements that he accomplished within the SINTAL Factory.

He unexpectedly passed away in 2001, in Zagreb, Croatia.

Prof. ALAIN MOCELLIN 1943-2016 École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Nancy, Nancy, France

Prof. Alain Mocellin was born in 1943, Metz, France. He obtained his civil engineering diploma in mines at the École des Mines de Nancy, France. In 1966 he was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Cambridge, USA to prepare a thesis under the supervision of Professor Kingery, pioneer of the young science of ceramic. He obtained his Ph.D. after 4 years of research.

In 1970, he returned to France to fulfill his military obligations, and in 1971, joined the Materials Center of the Ecole des Mines de Paris that was set up in Corbeil, located in the heart of the new factory of the SNECMA opened in 1967. He created a research group there, the "Ceramics Group" which he managed and successfully grew until 1977.  In 1977 he left France to join, as a Professor, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne to found a new "Ceramic Laboratory". He managed it and ensured its full development until 1988 when he proposed an ambitious project to create an innovative research laboratory on technical ceramics at the Ecole des Mines de Nancy.  Shortly after his arrival to Nancy as Professor of University, a change in the university policy forced to reconsider his plans to settle in Nancy. He proposed to put his skills and his unique network of scientific and industrial relations at the service of the whole of the National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine, begun creating a research group on ceramics in the Laboratory of Science and Engineering of Materials and Metallurgy of the School of Mines, and completed this initiative by launching and running a program of exchanges and European collaborations with the Institute of New Materials of the University of Saarbrücken. In Lausanne, he accepted the responsibility of Head of the Materials Department at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and stayed there from 1980 to 1982. In Nancy, he agreed to take charge of the Institut Lorrain des Matériaux for two years, in 1995 and 1996. From 2001, he accepted responsibility for the Materials Department of the Ecole des Mines. He was on the board of directors in "Laboratories of Refractories and Ceramic Materials" company hoping to help set up in Nancy a French pole of industrial and scientific expertise in the field of refractory materials. From 1979 to 1989 he held a position as Scientific Advisor to the Brown-Boveri Society in Switzerland. Alain Mocellin was an excellent initiator and a promoter of technical ceramic materials and special ceramics. His scientific and research life is truly remarkable with 7 patents (quite rare in the French university), 140 scientific and technical articles, including 14 invited conferences, and 19 theses. Many international scientific societies had him recognized, the International Institute for the Science of Sintering as a corresponding member, and of the World  Academy of Ceramics as a full member.  For more than 15 years  Alain Mocellin was a permanent member of the Editing Committee of the "Materials Treaty".  He would have had the satisfaction of knowing that this Treaty is praised by all to this day.

Those who worked closely with him will never forget his lessons and analyzes. Professor Alain Mocellin died on May 11, 2016.