John Hugh Chesters, O.B.E. 6 October 1906 – 14 December 1994
John Hugh Chesters, fulfilling his ambitions as a schoolboy, had a lifelong involvement in the application of science to solve practical and industrially important problems. His major contributions relate mainly to the efficiency and reliability of furnaces for steel melting. These were accomplished through research on refractory materials for furnace linings and on heat flow. His work led to great improvements in the processing and use of ceramics in bulk and in the characterization of the structure and properties of these materials. As a result, the capability of appropriate refractory materials to withstand stresses, sudden thermal shock, and corrosive environments for the long periods at high temperatures that arise in iron and steelmaking processes was substantially increased.