Keith Joseph Bullock FTSE (1931–2015) was an engineer and academic at the University of Queensland.

Early life

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Bullock was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1931. He attended Moorooka State School and the Church of England Grammar School.[1] Bullock enrolled in the engineering program at the University of Queensland in 1948, gaining his B.E. with first class honours in 1952. He won a number of prizes and the Alfred Henry Darker scholarship.[2]

Career

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Bullock was employed as a demonstrator after graduation. He commenced his PhD under supervisor Professor Mansergh Shaw. Bullock graduated with his PhD in 1957, the first engineering student to complete a PhD at the University of Queensland.[3] His thesis studied the physical properties and milling of sugar cane with an aim to improve the costs and efficiency of machinery within sugar mills, particularly in Australia.[4] His research was enabled by grants from the Colonial Sugar Refining Company and the Sugar Research Institute, and led to improvements in milling processes.[2]

Bullock married physiotherapist and fellow UQ graduate Margaret Roberts in 1957 and they moved to Boston, USA to take up a Fulbright Fellowship he was offered at Harvard University.[2] He would pursue research there in addition to teaching graduate classes. Bullock continued his association with Harvard University as a guest lecturer.[2] Bullock and his family returned to Australia in 1960, where he took a position as a lecturer at the University of Queensland in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.[2]

Bullock pursued research in a number of areas including hybrid and electric transmissions for cars[5] and heavy duty road vehicles to reduce fuel usage and emissions. In the 1970s he pioneered research into hybrid vehicles, converting a Ford Falcon to run on a small internal combustion engine with battery and flywheel energy storage, with Dr Duncan Gilmore.[6] He and Dr Frank Grigg, worked on a re-design of power trains used in underground load haul dump vehicles. He produced designs for submarines, buses and freight train locomotives. He developed a number of power system design improvements.[2]

Bullock became Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1975, and became Dean of Engineering in 1983. He encouraged the relocation of research into hypersonic test facilities to Queensland.[2][7]

Bullock retired from the university in 1991 and continued in private work for Transport Energy Systems,[8] a company which he established the same year.

Bullock died in 2015, and was survived by his wife Margaret and their two children.[3]

Memberships and awards

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  • Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineering[2]
  • Member, Society of Automotive Engineers of Australasia[2]
  • Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (including Chairman of Queensland branch)[5]
  • Fellow, Institute of Engineers Australia[2]
  • Rodda Award for outstanding work on a multi-purpose hybrid vehicle in 1982[2]
  • SAE Excellence Award (J.E. Batchelor Award) for the most outstanding written paper, in 1986.[2]
  • President, Staff and Graduates Club of the University of Queensland[2]
  • UQ Centenary Medal, for service to Australian society in energy research and development[9]

References

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  1. ^ "Vale". Churchie OBA. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "UQ remembers Emeritus Professor Keith Bullock, Dr Robert Wensley, QC and Emeritus Professor Gordon Dunlop". The Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Obituary – Professor Keith Bullock" (PDF). Salt. Saint Andrew's Uniting Church, Brisbane: 8–9. April 2015.
  4. ^ Bullock, Keith Joseph (1 January 1957). An investigation into the crushing and physical properties of sugar cane and bagasse (Thesis thesis). The University of Queensland, School of Engineering.
  5. ^ a b "Keith Bullock: from engineering to hybrids in ATSE Focus" (PDF). June 2015.
  6. ^ "Alternatives to Gasoline Updated". Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  7. ^ "Hypersonics – Don Fry AO". dgfry.com.au. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Graduate engineers family success". UQ News. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  9. ^ "UQ's Centenary Medallists". UQ News. Retrieved 3 February 2018.