OBITUARY

Laureate Professor David Boger died on 5/7/2025.

Laureate Professor David Boger FTSE FRS FAA was elected as an ATSE Fellow in 1989. He was a member of the Victorian Division, and in 2012 was on the Organising Committee of the Clunies Ross Awards.

A world-recognised authority in non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, his fundamental research led to the discovery of new materials now known as Boger fluids. Applied to practical problems, David’s expertise helped develop technologies across a range of materials science areas including in metal, crude oil and coal processing, industrial inkjet printers, insecticide sprays and more.

One of three inaugural Laureate Professors at the University of Melbourne, David was also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Society in the UK. A recipient of the 2005 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, his discoveries and fundamental research have played an important role in the minimisation of waste in the minerals industry.

Professor Boger is a world recognised authority in non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics. His fundamental research has led to the discovery of a new class of material behaviour now identified in the literature as Boger Fluids. These materials, and observations with them in important flowfields, have played a major role in the development of the fluid mechanics for polymer melts and solutions.

Professor Boger has applied the expertise gained in fundamental research to the solution of specific problems.
Achievements include:
(i) development of a dry disposal scheme for bauxite residue with Alcoa in Western Australia,
(ii) extensive consulting and laboratory work for Delhi Petroleum to convert Jackson crude oil from a solid to a liquid at room temperature in order that the $180,000,000 Jackson to Moonie pipeline could operate and operate efficiently,
(iii) successful development of pour point depressant chemicals for waxy crudes, with ICI (Australia) and the capture of the Jackson pipeline market, and
(iv) establishing a patented method (with Dr. D. Mainwaring, Swinburne Institute of Technology) for the conversion of Victorian brown coals into potential coal-water suspension fuels.

Current applied research is directed towards the processing of stabilized zirconia ceramics, paint dispersions, black coal water fuels and enhanced oil recovery.

Professor Boger has consulted extensively both in Australia and overseas.