Professor Morris E. Fine Receives Award from University of Minnesota

August 24, 2009

Morris E. Fine, Walter P. Murphy and Technological Institute Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering in Service and member of the graduate faculty, has received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota.

The award recognizes graduates who have attained unusual distinction in their chosen fields or in public service, and who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership on a community, state, national, or international level.

Fine received his PhD in physical metallurgy from the University of Minnesota in 1943. After working on the Manhattan Project in Chicago and Los Alamos, Fine worked for Bell Labs until 1954, when he came to Northwestern to help start the first materials science department in the world.

Since then he has published more than 300 papers and continues to publish today. He has received numerous awards; most recently he was chosen as recipient of the TMS 2009 Application to Practice Award for research that led to a new steel with better corrosion resistance, toughness, and welding properties. This steel was selected for a new bridge in northern Illinois. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a fellow of the Metals, Minerals and Materials Society (TMS), ASM International, the American Ceramic Society and the American Physical Society. He is an honorary member of AIME and the Japan Institute of Metals.