Gordon Beveridge

{{Short description|Scottish chemist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Gordon Beveridge | honorific_prefix = Sir | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|11|28|df=y}} | birth_place = St Andrews, Fife, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|08|28|1933|11|28|df=y}} | death_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland | other_names = | education = Inverness Royal Academy,<br/>University of Glasgow,<br/>University of Edinburgh | occupation = chemist | years_active = | known_for = founder member of the Engineering Council | notable_works = ''Optimization: Theory and Practice'',<br/>''Engineering in the 80s'' exhibition | father = Victor Beattie Beveridge | mother = Elizabeth (Fairbairn) Grieve | spouse = {{Marriage|Geertruida Hillegonda Johanna Bruijn|1963}} }} '''Sir Gordon Smith Grieve Beveridge''' (28 November 1933 – 28 August 1999) was a Scottish chemical engineer. He served as president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1986 to 1997. He was knighted in 1994 for his services to higher education and died in Belfast.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |last1=Kincade |first1=James |title=Obituary: Sir Gordon Beveridge |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-sir-gordon-beveridge-1115892.html |accessdate=27 March 2019 |work=The Independent |date=4 September 1999 |language=en}}</ref>

==Career== Sir Gordon was born in St Andrews, Fife and brought up in Inverness. He attended Inverness Royal Academy, followed by the University of Glasgow, where he studied engineering. He had a distinguished career and completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He spent some time at the University of Minnesota as a Harkness Fellow.<ref name=H>{{cite web |url= https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12265033.sir-gordon-beveridge/ |title= Sir Gordon Beveridge |author= |date= 31 August 1999 |website= Herald Scotland |publisher= |access-date= June 17, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He was also a visiting professor at the University of Texas. In 1967, he moved to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and, from 1971 to 1986, was a professor of chemical engineering and head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.<ref name=ICHEME>{{cite web |url= https://www.icheme.org/about-us/history/presidents/gordon-smith-grieve-beveridge/ |title= Gordon Smith Grieve Beveridge |author= |date= |website= IChemE |publisher= |access-date= June 17, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

Among his many posts, he was a Fellow and an Officer of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Companion of the Institute of Management.<ref name=H />

In 1981, he was a founder member of the Engineering Council.<ref name=ICHEME /> He served 13 years first as chairman of its Standing Committee on Professional Institutions and later as chairman of its standing committee on the Regions and Assembly. He was also a member of the National Economic Development Office (Nedo) Chemicals Economic Development Committee and chairman of its Petrochemical Sector Working Group.

In 1984, he served a term as president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. He was President of QUA in 1989. He was chairman of the Government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) 1995-98, a member of the board of the Northern Ireland Growth Challenge and a director of University Bookshop Ltd, the Northern Quality Centre and the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre.

He also served as a member of the council of the Open University, as director and chairman of Navan at Armagh Management Ltd, which runs the Navan Fort complex; Textflow Services Ltd, QUBIS Ltd (1991–97) and Lennoxvale Developments Ltd.

He was also a director of NI Opera.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.ul.ie/ceremonies/sir-gordon-smith-grieve-beveridge |title= Sir Gordon Smith Grieve Beveridge |author= |date= |website= University of Limerick |publisher= |access-date= June 17, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>

==Family== Gordon was the son of Victor Beattie Beveridge and Elizabeth (Fairbairn) Grieve. He married Geertruida Hillegonda Johanna Bruijn in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=12 April 2015 |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919152306/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Publications== He wrote more than 300 articles, papers and books, including ''Optimization: Theory and Practice'' (with Robert S. Schechter, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. New York, 1970).<ref>{{cite book |title= 'Optimization: Theory and Practice (Chemical Engineering)' |author= |date= |publisher= |isbn= 0070051283 |quote=}}</ref>

==Exhibitions== * ''Engineering in the 80s'', Edinburgh. Targeted at school leavers who were considering one of the branches of engineering as a career, this exhibition for the Council of Engineering Institutions was held at the Royal Museum of Scotland for three months. Exhibits ranged from coalface-cutting machines to needles for optical surgery.

<gallery> Image:GSGBExhibition.jpg|Engineering in the 80s Exhibition </gallery>

==Honorary degrees== * University of Dublin, Ireland * Connecticut College, USA * 1995 Lodz University of Technology, Poland * Royal Irish Academy, Ireland * 1985 University of Ulster, Northern Ireland * 1994 DSc Queen's University of Kingston, Canada * 1995 Dsc Queens University of Kingston, Canada * 1995 LLD University of Ireland * 1995 LLD University of Limerick * 1997/98 DUniv Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|website=1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=2016-04-04|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 1998 LLD Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-05-22/Writtens-2.html House of Commons appointment to RWMAC]

{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast|before=Sir Peter Froggatt|after=Professor Sir George Bain|years=1986–1997}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beveridge, Gordon}} Category:1933 births Category:1999 deaths Category:People from St Andrews Category:People educated at Inverness Royal Academy Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of the Royal Irish Academy Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh Category:University of Minnesota faculty Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty Category:Academics of Heriot-Watt University Category:Academics of the University of Strathclyde Category:People associated with the Open University Category:British chemical engineers Category:Scottish chemists Category:Scottish knights Beveridge, Sir Gordon Category:Vice-chancellors of Queen's University Belfast