Person
Read, Thomas Andrew (1886 - 1972)
- Born
- 16 February 1886
Dean, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 1 February 1972
Camberwell, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Metallurgist
Summary
Thomas Reed was a metallurgist whose career was spent with Broken Hill South Ltd where he started in 1901 as clerk in the store at the company's mine and rose to a 33-year term as Chief Metallurgist. He experimented in methods of measuring suspended dust and finding ways of preventing this, leading to significant improvements in mine conditions. Much of his work involved flotation methods where he successfully introduced the use of ferric salts in the differential flotation process. Other investigations resulted in a marked increase in the recovery of silver and lead. Read played a leading role in the design and construction of company's new concentrating plant, the first to be built of steel and concrete. He was active in the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, being Vice-President in 1944.
Details
Chronology
- 1901 - 1905
- Career position - Employed in general store, Broken Hill South Ltd
- 1905 - 1915
- Career position - Employed in assay office, Broken Hill South Ltd
- 1906
- Education - Diploma in assaying, Broken Hill Technical College
- 1910
- Education - Diploma in chemistry, Broken Hill Technical College
- 1915 - 1922
- Career position - Metallurgist, Broken Hill South Ltd
- 1918 -
- Career position - Member, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- 1922 - 1955
- Career position - Chief Metallurgist, Broken Hill South Ltd's mine
- 1925
- Education - Fellowship in metallurgy, Sydney Technical College
- 1933 - 1936
- Career position - Chairman, Broken Hill Branch, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- 1935 - 1952
- Career position - Member of Council, New South Wales Branch, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- 1944
- Career position - Vice-President, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- 1955
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Branagan, D. F., 'Read, Thomas Andrew (1886-1972), Metallurgist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 65-66. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160074b.htm. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q24226328. Details
- 'Read, Thomas Andrew (18860216-19720201)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1470154. Details
Helen Cohn
Last modified: 3 July 2018