Lionel Alfred Gilbert died as the result of a road accident in Hertfordshire on 10th October, 1962. He was 42 years of age.
Mr. Gilbert was born in London, educated at Royal Holloway Grammar School and graduated from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in 1942 with; A.R.C.S. and B.Sc. in chemistry and geology (first class honours). He later studied physics and mathematics at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Mr. Gilbert worked with British Celanese, Ltd., for just over three years, on instrumentation and on the physical chemistry of plastics and textiles. This was followed by two years with Kodak, Ltd., doing similar work in the photographic industry. Early in 1948 he joined the Chester Beatty Research Institute for physio-chemical studies and instrumentation in cancer research. In the latter part of 1951 he obtained an appointment with the Central Research Establishment of the National Coal Board, Stoke Orchard, where he was in charge of laboratories of the Coal Preparation Department.
He was appointed in February, 1953, to work as geologist in Nyasaland for Minerals Research Syndicate, Ltd. After a year on the geology of a carbonatite complex, he joined Tin and Associated Minerals, Ltd., for similar work in Nigeria on deposits of tin and columbite. Mr. Gilbert went to Malaya in August, 1955, for three years with the Pahang Consolidated Co., Ltd., Malaya, where his work was concerned mainly with the structure and mineralogy of underground ore deposits. He was also responsible for the assessment of ore reserves in the company’s 350-square-mile mining concession.
Mr. Gilbert joined D.S.I.R. Warren Spring Laboratory, in June, 1959, as a Senior Scientific Officer in their Mineral Processing Division and was promoted Principal Scientific Officer in December, 1959. His research in the field of high-tension separation of minerals resulted in the development of a number of new instruments and new techniques for measurement. He participated in a laboratory investigation into the use of additives as grinding aids and was joint author of a paper at the First European Symposium on Size Reduction held in Germany in April, 1962.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1959; he was also an Associate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry.
Vol. 72, Trans IMM 1962-63, p.678
