Professor Young's work in high temperature gas-metal reactions has earned him an enviable international reputation. He has made major contributions to scientific understanding and has been responsible for improvements in blast furnace practice and high temperature alloys and coatings. He is jointly responsible for the development of a new Raney catalyst for the production of methanol which has attracted world-wide interest. His work has led to major research funding from Australian and overseas companies, the definitive scientific treatise on diffusion processes and 136 refereed publications.