Antoine Marc Gaudin

Not to be confused with Marc Antoine Gaudin.

Biography AM Gaudin

Antoine Marc Gaudin (August 8, 1900 – August 23, 1974) was a distinguished American mineral engineer, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a founding member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Early Life

Gaudin was born in Smyrna, Turkey, where his father was a railroad general manager and archaeologist. He was educated in Haifa, Versailles, and Toulon, then attended universities in Paris and Aix-en-Provence from which he received his bachelor's degrees in 1916 and 1917, respectively. He followed his father to the United States in 1917 to enter the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science, from which he received his Engineer of Mines degree in 1921.

Professional Life

After brief interludes in industry, Gaudin returned to Columbia in 1924 as a lecturer. In 1926 he became an American citizen. From 1926-1929 he taught at the University of Utah, and from 1929-1939 was professor at the Montana School of Mines. He then assumed a professorship at MIT in 1939, which he retained until his retirement in 1966. In World War II and subsequently, Gaudin led an MIT team extracting uranium from low-grade ore.

Gaudin and his colleagues at the University of Utah/U.S. Bureau of Mines systematically investigated the function of reagents on the flotation behavior of pure minerals, during the period, 1926 -1929. Gaudin is admired as the father of ‘Fundamental Flotation Research’ due to his focused research on flotation process. Other important contributors to flotation research of those times are Coghill, Fahrenwald, Langmuir, Norris, Ralston, Sulman, Taggart, et al. Gaudin published a text book ‘Flotation’ which has two editions, 1931 and 1957. The book "Principles of Mineral Dressing" authored by AM Gaudin is still the basic book for all mineral processing engineers.

For his distinguished career in education, Gaudin was awarded several of the highest honors bestowed by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers.

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers published two volumes titled ‘Flotation - A.M. Gaudin Memorial Volume’ in the year, 1976 edited by MC Fuerstenau. SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration) instituted, Antoine M. Gaudin Award in the Honour of AM Gaudin.

Personal Life

Former students and colleagues knew, Nancy wife of Gaudin as a charming and gracious lady. Gaudin is blessed with two sons Paul and Robert, a daughter Elinor. He is blessed with twelve grand children.

Awards

(1) Robert H. Richards Award (1957), American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME).

(2) Mineral Industry Education Award (1969), AIME.

(3) Honorary Member (1972), AIME.

(4) Henry Krumb Lecture (1967), AIME.

(5) Extractive Metallurgy Lecture (1961), AIME.

(6) Sir Julius Wernher Lecture (1952), Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, London.

(7) Doctor of Science Honoris Causa (1941), The Montana School of Mines.

References

• National Academy memorial tribute
• AM Gaudin, Principles of Mineral Dressing, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.

• Douglas W. Fuerstenau, “A Century of Developments in the Chemistry of Flotation Processing”, Centenary of Flotation Symposium, Brisbane, Australia, June, 2005.

• Antoine M. Gaudin Award, http://www.smenet.org/membership/awards/division-awards/mineral-metallurgical-processing-(mpd)/antoine-m-gaudin-award