TRIBUTE from Professor Peter Cook CBE FTSE

William John McGregor Tegart, Greg to all of us, passed away on the 4th of July 2023 at the age of 94. His knowledge, his wisdom, his boundless energy and his sense of humour will be missed by his many friends and colleagues from around the world and especially of course by his family. 

By any standards, Greg was an early high achiever, with his first papers on metallurgy published at the age of 22, soon followed by more papers and a book on metallurgy, published in English, French, Russian and Polish. 

Greg was awarded his Bachelor and Masters degrees by Melbourne University and his PhD by Sheffield University. Greg continued at Sheffield as a Lecturer then Senior Lecturer. After a sabbatical at Northwestern University in Illinois, Greg subsequently took up a professorial position in the Department of Materials, College of Aeronautics, at Cranfield, heading up a large group working on such diverse projects as fatigue of steels for Concorde landing gear, welding of high strength steels for Trident submarines and polymer re-entry cones for rockets. During his time in the UK, Greg married Wendy Bridger, who sadly passed away a few years later. 

In 1968, Greg left academia and returned to Melbourne to start a new career in industry, setting up the BHP Melbourne Research Laboratories, working on new steel developments, the application of steel in construction, solar energy, oil from coal, and heavy railroad technology. Under Greg’s inspired leadership, the BHP Labs became the pre-eminent industrial research centre in Australia for materials science. In 1977 Greg became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. 

So, in an early career spanning more than 30 years, Greg made an extraordinary contribution to metallurgy both nationally and internationally, in fields that are still of great importance not only to Australia but to the world, in transportation, solar energy, construction, submarines and space travel. A level of achievement that would have left most people content to rest on their laurels. But not Greg! That was only his early career! 

Greg’s next career commenced in 1979 when he moved to Canberra as a member of the 3-man Executive running CSIRO. In 1985, Greg became Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Science and Technology, with over 2,000 staff, in areas as diverse as meteorology, Antarctic science, patents, research grants, government laboratories, international science and science and technology policy. This gave Greg the opportunity to expand his knowledge and leadership into a whole range of new, exciting and important areas and to have a major and continuing influence on Australia’s science and technology policy. Greg was awarded the AM in recognition of his contribution. 

Greg was appointed to the newly created position of Secretary of the Australian Science and Technology Council in 1988.  This marked another important new phase of Greg’s career and perhaps the most internationally significant phase, in that he became deeply involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC. Greg led the Australian delegation to the IPCC for 5 years and from that position, strongly influenced the early direction of the IPCC and its modus operandi, helping to set up what proved to be, and continues to be, the world’s most influential body in the climate debate. In 2007, Greg was formally recognised as a Contributor, in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC. 

Greg retired from the Australian Public Service in 1993 and started on yet another career path! This was perhaps the most diverse career phase, in that he was Visiting Professor at three universities – Victoria University, ANU and Canberra University. He was also the founding co-director then Executive Advisor, to the APEC Centre for Technology Foresight, based in Thailand but covering all the Pacific Rim countries. He also had a major ongoing international role through ATSE as Foreign Secretary, publishing numerous Academy reports and studies, notably on the future of work, and nanotechnology. He was instrumental in developing a range of international collaborations, especially with Asia and Europe, including one with the Basque region of Spain, a region with which Greg had strong connections over many years. 

Greg’s career then morphed into yet another phase, through a range of activities leading to the development of assistive technologies for the aged and disabled. I might point out that Greg did not consider himself to be aged or disabled at this stage, nor was he, though he was a mature 86! Greg was the ACT Senior Australian of the Year for 2016 in recognition of his work in aged care technologies, work that he continued until 2022. 

Greg had a wonderful and incisive perspective on governments and nations and was a confirmed Francophile, so it is fitting to note that Greg passed away on 4 July, American Independence Day and was farewelled on 14 July 2023, Bastille Day. The sentiments of Liberté Egalité and Fraternité echoed throughout Greg’s life. 

Greg’s scientific career was extraordinary, extraordinarily diverse and amazingly productive over more than 70 years and it is hard to do it justice. He was a truly extraordinary man, a wonderful friend, an exceptional scientist and engineer. He worked tirelessly for ATSE and all that it stood for. Greg will be sorely missed by us all and especially by his wife Robyn and his children Elizabeth, Andrew, Alistair and Louise. He leaves a wonderful legacy.  

Dr Tegart has had a distinguished career in academia, industry and government, After graduating in Australia, he moved to England for Post-graduate study and pursued an academic career. From 1955-1966, he was in the Department of Metallurgy at the University of Sheffield and, from 1966??68, he was Professor of Materials, College of AeronauH_cs, Cranfield, UK. He returned to Australia in 1968 as Manager, BHP Melbourne Research Laboratories and, in 1978, he became Executive Assistant to the Chief General Manager, tmP Co Ltd. He then moved to Canberra in 1979 as a Member of the Execut.ive of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, From 1981-84, he wae Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Science and Technology; ixom 1984 until the administrative rearrangements following the 1987 election, he was the Secretary of the Department ot Science, On Z7 July 1987, he took up the position of Secretary of the Australian Science and Technology Council, a body which directly advises the Prime Minister of Australia on science and technology matters,