Sir Gordon Smith Grieve Beveridge (28 November 1933 – 28 August 1999) was a Scottish chemist. He served as president and vice-chancellor of

Queen's University of Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, from 1986 to 1997. He was knighted in 1994 for his services to higher education and died in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Career

Sir Gordon was born in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

, Fife and brought up in Inverness. He attended

Inverness Royal Academy Inverness Royal Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in the city of Inverness in the Highland area of Scotland. A former grammar school with a history dating back to the 13th century, the academy became a comprehensive in the mid-1970s ...

, followed by the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, where he studied engineering. He had a distinguished career and completed his PhD at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. He spent some time at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

as a Harkness Fellow. He was also a visiting professor at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. In 1967, he moved to

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

in Edinburgh, and, from 1971 to 1986, was a professor of chemical engineering and head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

in Glasgow. Among his many posts, he was a Fellow and an Officer of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

, a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

, a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

and a Companion of the Institute of Management. In 1981, he was a founder member of the

Engineering Council The Engineering Council (formerly Engineering Council UK; colloquially known as EngC) is the UK's regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated engineers and engineering technician. The Engineering Council holds the nat ...

. He served 13 years first as chairman of its Standing Committee on Professional Institutions and later as chairman of its standing committee on the Regions and Assembly. He was also a member of the National Economic Development Office (Nedo) Chemicals Economic Development Committee and chairman of its Petrochemical Sector Working Group. In 1984, he served a term as president of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

. He was President of QUA in 1989. He was chairman of the Government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) 1995-98, a member of the board of the Northern Ireland Growth Challenge and a director of University Bookshop Ltd, the Northern Quality Centre and the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre. He also served as a member of the council of the Open University, as director and chairman of Navan at Armagh Management Ltd, which runs the Navan Fort complex; Textflow Services Ltd, QUBIS Ltd (1991–97) and Lennoxvale Developments Ltd. He was also a director of

NI Opera Northern Ireland Opera is Northern Ireland's national opera company. The company is based at the Carnegie Building, Donegall Road, Belfast, and its major funder is the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The company's patron is Sean Rafferty, and ...

Family

Gordon was the son of Victor Beattie Beveridge and Elizabeth (Fairbairn) Grieve. He married Geertruida Hillegonda Johanna Bruijn in 1963.

Publications

He wrote more than 300 articles, papers and books, including ''Optimization: Theory and Practice'' (with Robert S. Schechter, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. New York, 1970).

Exhibitions

* ''Engineering in the 80s'',

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. Targeted at school leavers who were considering one of the branches of engineering as a career, this exhibition for the Council of Engineering Institutions was held at the

Royal Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a museum of Scottish history and culture. It was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, ...

for three months. Exhibits ranged from coalface-cutting machines to needles for optical surgery. Image:GSGBExhibition.jpg, Engineering in the 80s Exhibition

Honorary degrees

University of Dublin The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

, Ireland *

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. Originally chartered as Thames College, it was founded in 1911 as the state's only women's colle ...

, USA * 1995 Lodz University of Technology, Poland *

, Ireland * 1985

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

, Northern Ireland * 1994 DSc Queen's University of Kingston, Canada * 1995 Dsc Queens University of Kingston, Canada * 1995 LLD University of Ireland * 1995 LLD

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

* 1997/98 DUniv

, Edinburgh * 1998 LLD

, Belfast

References

External links

House of Commons appointment to RWMAC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beveridge, Gordon 1933 births 1999 deaths People from St Andrews People educated at Inverness Royal Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Knights Bachelor Members of the Royal Irish Academy Academics of the University of Edinburgh University of Minnesota faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Academics of Heriot-Watt University Academics of the University of Strathclyde People associated with the Open University British chemical engineers Scottish chemists Scottish knights Beveridge, Sir Gordon Vice-chancellors of Queen's University Belfast