Obituary - Sir Ronald Mason KCB FRS
Sir Ronald Mason was internationally regarded as an authority on advanced technologies and on their implementation and management. He served as President of the Institute of Materials, one of the predecessors of IOM3, for 1995/96.
Sir Ronald Mason KCB FRS
22.12.1930 – 11.10.2021
Sir Ronald’s career was based in academia, starting as a research fellow at University College and then a lecturer at Imperial College, London. He was professor of chemistry at the University of Sheffield from 1963 to 1971, and then at the University of Sussex from 1971 to 1977. He had many visiting professorships in Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. He made significant contributions to organometallic chemistry in an area critical to the development of chemical catalysts. He also worked on enzymes and ferredoxins (proteins that facilitate key metabolic processes) and developed a unique combination of scientific and medical expertise.
His public career began with his appointment as chairman of the Chemistry Committee of the Science Research Council (1968-71). He subsequently became Chairman of the Science Board of the SRC (1971-75) and chairman of the Requirements Board of the Department of Industry (1972-76). In 1977 he was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the MOD, with responsibility for all major defence equipment programmes. He played a key role in the Trident programme and was also heavily involved with NATO and the DOD.
Ron had special expertise in matters connected with security, whether economic, military or environmental, and was involved at a senior level with many industrial enterprises. From 1984-87 he was successively deputy chairman and chairman of Hunting Engineering Ltd, the British defence contractor. During this time, the company's turnover trebled, and profits grew sevenfold. He then became a director of Thomson (UK), the British subsidiary of the French defence and engineering organisation. Ron was also a consultant to GKN, playing a central role in the company’s purchase in 1988 of significant shareholding in Westland, and to the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advise on European activities. Ron was an official advisor to the Home Office, and to the Foreign and Commonwealth office. He was a member of the Academic Board of the NATO Defence College and a founder member of the European Strategy Group. His publications included Chemical Weapons and their Control, Security Post-INF and Gorbachev and Future Western Security.
His appointments included Chairman of the British Hydromechanical Research Association, British Ceramics Research, the advisory board of Science Applications International Corporation Limited and the first Chairman of the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Materials and subsequently of IOM3, a Fellow of the Royal Society (1975) and was made Knight Commander of the Bath in 1980.
Sir Ronald was inaugurated as President of the Institute of Materials (IoM) in May 1995 and served in this role for a year. At that time the Institute took a lead on helping to carry forward the recommendations of the Technology Foresight Programme. His presidency was shortly after the creation of IoM from the merger of the Institute of Metals, Institute of Ceramics, and Plastics and Rubber Institute in 1993, and in his Presidential Address, Sir Ronald developed a 'something new from something old' theme through which IoM could capture all the energy and enthusiasm of its youth and combine it with the maturity and experience of its merged bodies. Ron was subsequently chair of trustees of the Institute of Materials Pension and Life Assurance Scheme.
Husband of the late Rosemary and first wife Polly, he had three daughters, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.