Pierre Maurice Gy (; 25 July 1924 – 5 November 2015) was a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

. Born in Paris, France, to Felix and Clemence, Gy graduated in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from ESPCI ParisTech in 1946. On graduation, Gy worked as a

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

for the Compagnie Minière du Congo Français, Congo, before returning to Paris in 1949 as a research engineer for the mining and processing trade organisation Minerais et Metaux. It was during this time that Gy started to address fundamental issues in sampling, especially those concerned with characterising industrial bulk chemicals, aggregates and chemical processes. Gy became head of the mineral processing laboratories and, by 1962, technical manager, during which time he continued to develop his sampling theory. Since 1963 he has worked as an industrial sampling consultant. Gy received doctorates in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

(1960) and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

(1975) from the

University of Nancy A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

but has always worked outside the academic mainstream, publishing 9 books and over 175 papers, including: * (1979) ''SAMPLING OF PARTICULATE MATERIALS; theory and practice'' *(1992) ''Sampling of Heterogeneous and Dynamic Material Systems: Theories of Heterogeneity, Sampling and Homogenizing'' *(1998) ''Sampling for Analytical Purposes'' In August 2003, the First World Conference on Sampling and Blending (WCSB1) was held in honour of Dr Pierre Gy in Esbjerg. WCSB2 was held in Queensland, Australia (May 2005) and WCSB3 in Porto Alegre, Brazil (October 2007)
WCSB4
took place in 2009, WCSB5 in Santiago, Chile and WCSB6 in Lima, Peru. Pierre Gy's work was still the subject of debate and recognition at WCSB7 in Bordeaux, July 2015. He will remain one of the founding fathers of sampling science.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gy, Pierre 1924 births 2015 deaths French chemical engineers French statisticians Nancy-Université alumni