(John) Barry French, born August 22, 1931, is a Canadian scientist and entrepreneur. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1961. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. French was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007 and is co-founder of

SCIEX SCIEX is a manufacturer of mass spectrometry instrumentation used in biomedical and environmental applications. Originally started by scientists from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, it is now part of Danaher Corporatio ...

, a mass spectrometer company now owned by Danaher Corporation.

Research

Barry French became full professor at the University of Toronto Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) in 1968, and served as Associate Director from 1974 - 1982. He was half-time Dean of the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies from 1982-1985. French's early research interests were in the field of

molecular beams A molecular beam is produced by allowing a gas at higher pressure to expand through a small orifice into a chamber at lower pressure to form a beam of particles (atoms, free radicals, molecules or ions) moving at approximately equal velocities, with ...

, rarefied gas dynamics and

space simulation Astronaut training describes the complex process of preparing astronauts in regions around the world for their space missions before, during and after the flight, which includes medical tests, physical training, extra-vehicular activity (EVA) trai ...

. He developed a hypersonic beam space simulator at UTIAS. In 1969 he was asked by NASA to collaborate with

Alfred O. C. Nier Alfred Otto Carl Nier (May 28, 1911 – May 16, 1994) was an American physicist who pioneered the development of mass spectrometry. He was the first to use mass spectrometry to isolate uranium-235 which was used to demonstrate that 235U could unde ...

at the University of Minnesota by making his apparatus available to test the Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer that Nier was developing for the Viking Mars mission planned for 1976. The ability of this apparatus to produce hypersonic Mach 15 beams, half the speed of the Mars entry, allowed the mass spectrometer to be tested and calibrated properly. His work on molecular beams and gaseous ion sources lead to his interest in atmospheric pressure ion sources coupled to mass spectrometry. Over his career Dr. French has received more than a dozen patents and authored over 60 scientific papers.

Apollo 13

On April 16, 1970, French received a phone call from Grumman Aerospace Corp. requesting assistance with an issue that arose during the

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

emergency and its return to earth. A team of six UTIAS professors was assembled to quickly provide advice on how much air pressure to use to separate and push the

lunar module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

(LM) away from the command module (CM) prior to re-entry, both properly separating the modules and avoiding damage to the CM hatch. In 2010, the group of six scientists was honoured by the University of Toronto with medals presented to the remaining members by the

Canadian Air and Space Museum The Canadian Air and Space Conservancy (formerly the Toronto Aerospace Museum and the Canadian Air and Space Museum) was an aviation museum that was located in Toronto, Ontario, featuring artifacts, exhibits and stories illustrating a century of ...

SCIEX

French, together with scientists Neil Reid and Adele Buckley and businessman

William Breukelman William Breukelman, O.C., MBA, P.ENG, is the former principal and Chairman of IMAX Corporation, and co-founder (with Barry French) and former CEO and Chairman of SCIEX, whose technology the Office of the Governor General of Canada has described as ...

, founded SCIEX in 1974 to develop a mass spectrometer system based on atmospheric pressure ionisation and direct air sampling. The company was acquired by MDS Inc. in 1981. In addition to launching an ICP-MS system and a contraband detection system, the company developed atmospheric pressure LC-MS systems and grew to become one of the major suppliers in the $3.68 billion world wide (in 2019) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry industry. In 2009 SCIEX was acquired by Danaher Corporation for approximately $1.1 billion.

External links

References

Canadian scientists Canadian engineers {{DEFAULTSORT:French, Barry 1931 births Living people Canadian academics University of Toronto alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering Canadian company founders Canadian technology company founders