La riqueza de las minas y la metalurgia

Transcription

1 Laval University From the SelectedWorks of Fathi Habashi June, 2006 La riqueza de las minas y la metalurgia Fathi Habashi Available at:

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5 The Wealth of Mining and Metallurgy Doctor Fathi Habashi, emeritus professor of Extractive Metallurgy at Laval University in Québec City, Canada, offered a course entitled Hydrometallurgy to professionals of the industry, students, professors, and investigators of our Faculty from 17 to 21 of April at the center of teaching Gilberto Borja Navarrete, to the invitation of doctor Jorge Ornelas Zábares, distinguished professor of the Division de Earth Sciences. The course comprised the recent advances in bioleaching, chemistry of solutions, concentration and purification of ions in solution, During his stay in Mexico, doctor Habashi had the opportunity to visit the Palace of Mining, which was for him a very important experience, since he is interested in the history of mining and metallurgy and conserving its heritage as demonstrated by being a coauthor to Mining and Metallurgy on Postage Stamps (1999), From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs: History of Chemistry, Metallurgy and Civilization (2002), Schools of Mines. The Beginnings of Mining and Metallurgical Education (2003), Ida Noddack (2005), and his most recent work Readings in Historical Metallurgy. Doctor Habashi studied chemical engineering at the University of Cairo, Egypt (1949) and obtained a doctorate in Inorganic Chemical Technology from the University of Technology in Vienna (1959). He then began to be interested in the new technologies of extraction of metals. He made post-doctoral studies in the University of Vienna ( ) and obtained an honorary doctorate in sciences from the Institute of Mines of Saint Petersburg in Russia. After obtaining the scholarship of the Canadian government ( ) he had the opportunity to work in the Department of Extractive Metallurgy of Anaconda Company in Tucson, Arizona. To date, professor Habashi has written 17 books, published 74 research articles, reviewed some 110 articles, published 120 historical articles, wrote 15 monthly technical information, and reviewed about 120 books. He said clearly, Writing books is a question of organization. What I do is to read extensively then select the information that interests me. I then put them in order. After some time I realize that I have accumulated sufficient amount of information to allow me to write an article on a certain topic. When uniting several such articles I discover that they can be combined in form of a book ". Professor Habashi, is convinced that academic people should maintain a strong link with industry: We cannot be isolated. Universities must try to do investigations that can have application in industry. However, the relation between industry and university is not very strong, because each company has its own research center in which they have very capable engineers". Regarding engineering students in Canada, their relation with industry can begin early because of the cooperative system. This consists of allowing students to spend three semesters in industry during which they work under the supervision of an engineer and, when their stay comes to an end, they present a written report to the University. The students wait with enthusiasm for this cooperative work, because they receive good compensation. Through this system, some of our students were sent to foreign countries like Brazil, France, and Morocco".

6 The professor emeritus of Laval University considers that mining and the metallurgy are essential to all countries: We have to attract so many students to exploit the mineral resources. Metals are used daily: gold, silver, aluminum, and iron. Also there are rare ones like gallium and germanium that have numerous applications in the electronic pieces of computers and other devices. In general, mining and metallurgy generate employment and wealth ". One of the techniques that doctor Habashi uses to encourage young people to study mining and metallurgy is through its own books. He tries to explain the concepts in as simple form as possible and to include many pictures with artistic and historical value. I consider that popularization of the themes helps people to be interested in them. That is why I took the task of collecting stamps and woodcuts of artistic and historical value that contain information on mining and metallurgy and include them in my books. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that the history of the science is science itself. Knowledge of history allows us to plan better for the future, without repeating the errors of the past. Doctor Fathi Habashi said that his stay in our Facultad was very pleasant and he desires that the relation with the National Autonomous University of Mexico be maintained alive. Lic. LizbethIris Moreno Aldana Photo: Eduardo Martinez Cuautle