OBITUARY 1167

OBITUARY
PROFESSOR BRUCE IRONS
Professor Bruce Irons of the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta,
died, together with his wife Carol, on the 6 December 1983, at the age of 59. The Engineering
Community at large and in particular his colleagues, collaborators and students, mourn his
departure. He was undoubtedly one of the giants of the finite element era and his name is
now widely known to those acquainted with the subject, through the procedures and innovations
he has introduced.
The Irons Patch Test is, for instance, known as such throughout the literature of engineering
and mathematics. Such names as Isoparametric, Serendipity, Frontal solver and Semiloof
introduced by his fertile imagination to the finite element vocabulary are now household words
and provide a memorial to his works.
Bruce Irons was a quiet man with a stroke of genius in his intuitive physical understanding
of complex phenomena. He started his engineering career in the Stress Analysis Group of Rolls
Royce where many of his innovative ideas germinated-often not understood by his colleagues.
Perhaps this lack of understanding was due to his innate characteristic of modesty and of
endowing his equals with his own intellectual capabilities, to avoid talking down to them. In
the atmosphere of university, which he joined in Swansea in 1966, this was soon changed. He
learned to transmit his ideas to students by patience and meticulous explanation. He provided
outstanding guidance to research workers involved in finite element computer programming,
an art in which he achieved himself a rare degree of perfection. He devoted many hours to
1168 OBITUARY
this process and those who were associated with his teaching and guidance speak of him with
great kindness and remembrance.
Bruce Irons was fascinated by the seemingly unlimited potential applications of computers
to engineering sciences: he was forcibly aware of the dangers associated with misleading
computer output resulting from inadequate formulation, erroneous data or programming errors.
The rare blend of theoretical thought, engineering design creativity, computer programming
perfectionism and tutorial practice led him to develop a typical no-nonsence and even ironic
Irons style. Those who had the privilege of attending his 1973 lecture in Versailles where he
first presented the Semiloof concept to the finite element community will undoubtedly
remember his opening slide-dispLying a mere egg-followed a few seconds later (that seemed
an eternity to the audience) by the provocative statement Chickens lay eggs, engineers dont,
emphasizing the need of any shell element formulation to effectively cope with corners, edges
and holes met in real life structures.
His capabilities blossomed and many of his classical works date to the period spent at
Swansea where he collaborated with many and taught many who hold academic posts there
and at other universities. For his work, Bruce Irons was awarded the D.Sc. of the University
of Wales and was honoured by the award of the Von Karman prize, jointly with Ian Taig of
the British Aircraft Corporation for the introduction of isoparametric element concepts now
used widely in research and industrial finite element codes.
He devoted his recent years in University of Calgary, which he joined in 1974, to writing
books, playing the piano-which was his second love-and composing music. Two texts were
published as a result of this period. The first, Techniques of Finite Elements, was written for
finite element philosophers (published in 1979). The second, Finite Element Primer, was aimed
at teaching of the undergraduate and exhibits many of the famous Irons characteristics. We
learn that shortly before his untimely death, he completed in co-authorship with N. Shrive a
third manuscript entitled Numbers are Fun and devoted to numerical analysis ; all who were
interested in his work and contributions look forward to the publication of this text which will
complete Bruce Irons legacy to the engineering community. His last years in Calgary were
marred by an irreversible illness (multiple sclerosis) which he faced in full knowledge of all
relevant details, having gathered an extensive documentation on this ill-fated subject, which
he made part of his personal research duties.
ocz IC