Fox, Francis Arthur (1910 - 1999)

A scientist and administrator, he had an influential role in Australian research.

By Dr Peter Fox

“He might have had an equally illustrious career in the humanities. However metallurgy and science are the fields where his achievements are most recognised.”

Francis Fox was a remarkable man whose achievements contributed much to science, its applications and its management.

At a ceremony in 1985, Kim Beazley, then Defence Minister, dedicated the Francis Fox Laboratory, a large state-of-the-art laser research facility at Maribyrnong, and invited him to officially open it, which he did with a typically elegant and witty speech. It was a well-deserved recognition of his influential career;

As the booklet marking the opening explained:

During the thirteen years spent directing Defence Standards Laboratories, a large science complex with laboratories and staff in four Australian States, Francis Fox, scientist and administrator, completely changed the direction and thrust of defence science. He took over a testing and calibrating laboratory; he handed over a centre of scientific research.

…Administering such a complex which studies a range of physical, chemical, metallurgical and biological sciences, calls for many talents; with high academic qualifications, a diversified career in metallurgy, an easy familiarity with other sciences and the arts, an ability to converse, to write and to lecture, Francis Fox came to the job well equipped to set an enviable record of achievement.

Born in 1910, Fox lived his early life in London. By the age of 15, his abilities were becoming clear to all, with the award of a War memorial scholarship and later the prestigious Kitchener Scholarship, which enabled him to attend Birmingham University, where he studied metallurgy. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the Turner medal and in 1932 the Fenwick postgraduate award.

In 1932, in the hope of earning enough money to marry, he went to Ghana for a year to work in the assay office of a gold mine - the source of countless entertaining stories.

On his return to Birmingham, he worked for ICI Metals and the English Needle Company. In 1938 with the threat of war looming he took up a position in Manchester with the Magnesium Elektron Company.

The day before war was declared, Fox married Janet Harrower in Birmingham. They settled in Manchester, suffering the hardships and privations of the war while he continued working on magnesium technology, making a significant contribution to the war effort. In 1942 a son was born and, after moving to London in 1947, a daughter.

The 1940s brought further recognition when Birmingham University honoured his significant work and research with the award of doctorate of science. He also became deputy director of the British Welding Research Association. The 1950s were to bring professional accolades with the Robertson Award from the British Institute of Metals and the Florence Taylor Award from the Australian Institute.

Fox also had an abiding passion for the arts: he loved words and wit and so was equally at home with Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan. He acted in repertory theatre and did part time radio work with the BBC. Had he chosen he might have had an equally illustrious career in the humanities. However metallurgy and science are the fields where his achievements are most recognised.

In 1952, Fox was recruited by a visiting Australian delegation and, in January 1953, the family arrived in Melbourne, where he commenced work in the defence science area of the Department of Supply. A year later he was put in charge of a section of the Weapons Research Laboratory in Adelaide.

In 1956, the family returned to Melbourne and the next year Fox was appointed chief superintendent of the then Defence Standards Laboratory in Maribyrnong, which for 13 years prospered and grew under his direction until he retired in 1970.

Fox is survived by his wife, son Peter, daughter Susanna and grand-daughters Samantha and Tamara. He is sadly missed by his family and friends in Australia, and by his brother Steven, family and friends in the United Kingdom.

Dr Peter Fox is the son of Francis Fox

Published in The Age newspaper of Melbourne in the Obituaries on Friday 3 March 2000.