The hts wanted to mark the New Millennium by having a very special President. It didn't take us long to choose Geoff Hewitt even though this set something of a precedent because it is our tradition not to have the same President for more that one year and Geoff had held this post in 1977. It is a tribute therefore to Geoff's great eminence in heat transfer that we ignored the tradition for this special year.
After obtaining his PhD at UMIST, Geoff started a long research career at Harwell where he made many discoveries that have changed our views of two-phase flow and boiling heat transfer. While at Harwell, he founded the Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Service, HTFS.
In 1985 he became a part time professor of chemical engineering at Imperial College while continuing his work as a division head at Harwell. He became a full-time professor in 1990. Although now having reached retirement age, he continues a busy research programme as an emeritus professor.
There is not space here to list all Geoff's honours but he is both a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in 1989. His many heat transfer awards include the D Q Kern Award (from AIChE), Max Jacob Award (ASME) and Luikov Medal (International Centre for Heat & Mass Transfer). He has honorary doctorates from two universities and has authored and co-authored several books.
Geoff has a great love of music and beginning to find time in his busy life to for the visual arts.
