Four mineral processors in top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide

I have never been a great fan of ranking-lists, such as those comparing University departments around the world. Some are dubious to say the least, and are often biased. 

Ranking individuals is usually subjective but ScholarGPS is a California-based company that applies artificial intelligence, data mining, machine learning, and other data science techniques to its massive database of over 200 million publications and 3 billion citations to rank over 30 million scholars worldwide.

Highly Ranked Scholars are the most productive (number of publications) authors whose works are of profound impact (citations) and of utmost quality (h-index). and are those with ScholarGPS Ranks of 0.05% or better. The data used to identify the ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholars are based on lifetime or recent five-year activity, weighting each publication and citation by the number of authors, and excluding self-citations.

No mineral processors appear in the recent 5 year activity period, but four very well known scientists appear in the lifetime activity rankings. It is not surprising that they are all flotation specialists and are all 'old timers', as scientists build up their list of citations over the years, and all four were active back into last century. I am particularly pleased that all four have had varying involvements with MEI over the years.

Ranked number 1 is Douglas Fuerstenau, Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California Berkeley. He is a legendary mineral processor who I interviewed in 2015 for the blog.

I last met him in Denver in 2019 when he was presented with the 2018 International Mineral Processing Council's Distinguished Service Award (DSA). He was the first person in the history of the IMPC Congresses, which go back to London in 1952, to be awarded both the Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the DSA. Following the presentation, I felt privileged to receive an invitation from the IMPC to participate in a photo session of past and present recipients of the Award. At that moment, we were the sole living recipients of this distinguished honour.

Prof Fuerstenau (2nd right) and me, with IMPC President-Elect Ralph Holmes,
and outgoing President Cyril O'Connor

Ranked second is John Ralston, Emiritus Laureate Professor of the University of South Australia, who I first met in St. Louis, USA in 1986. Two years later I set up Minerals Engineering journal, and he was an obvious choice to represent Australia on the Editorial Board, which he did for over two decades. I interviewed him for the blog in 2014 and he presented a keynote lecture at MEI's Flotation '19 in Cape Town.

South Australian of the Year, Officer of the Order of Australia, these are just two of the many accolades and awards showered on John, the founding Director of the University of South Australia's Ian Wark Research Institute. 

Barbara and I had the opportunity to give John and his wife Ann a tour of Cornwall back in 2018. Then, in August 2022, I had the chance to catch up with John and Ann in their hometown of Melbourne. During our conversation, John shared fond memories of the late Olivia Newton-John, with whom he briefly danced at Christchurch Grammar School in Melbourne. Reflecting on his time "standing all over her feet," it's no surprise he didn't audition to be her partner in Grease!

With the Ralstons at Falmouth's Chain Locker in 2018

Ranked number 3 is Jim Finch, Emeritus Professor at McGill University, Canada, who I first met at a NATO conference in Falmouth in 1986. Among his many honours, Jim received the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. 

Unlike many academic researchers his work has not just been laboratory based but has had a major impact on industrial practice through his very close association with industry throughout his career. I interviewed him for the blog in 2015 and when I suggested to Elsevier that Jim would be the only person that I would like to have in charge of the 8th edition of Mineral Processing Technology, I never expected him to agree. But he accepted with enthusiasm, and maybe a little trepidation, and put together a strong team which delivered what I consider to be a superb update of the text.

A book signing with Jim in Phoenix in 2016

Jim has had a long involvement with MEI, being our consultant to the flotation series of conferences, and at Flotation '21 he presented a keynote lecture on the appreciation of the life and work of Prof. Graeme Jameson, of the University of Newcastle, Australia, also a holder of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jim is pictured below at Flotation '15 with Prof Jameson (2nd right), Nag Nagaraj (2nd left) and Janusz Laskowski, all recipients of the SME's Antoine Gaudin Award. Prof. Laskowski is also a holder of the IMPC Lifetime Achievement Award (2008). 

Ranked number 4, Janusz Laskowski, Professor Emeritus of mineral processing at the University of British Columbia, Canada, was interviewed for the blog in 2019. I first met him at the 1988 IMPC Congress in Stockholm, and have caught up with him at every IMPC, apart from Moscow, since then, as well as occasional SMEs, and at MEI’s flotation conferences. He was a keynote speaker at Flotation ’15 in Cape Town.

It is good to see these eminent mineral processors recognised by the inaugural listings of ScholarGPS and presumably using AI removes the possibility of bias often associated with human assessments? 

Also ranked are mining universities, institutional rankings being based on the quality and quantity of active scholars in each institution who are highly productive (number of publications) and have generated outstanding work of meaningful impact (citations) and excellent quality (h-index). Rankings are based on the lifetime or prior five-year contributions of the included scholars, weighting each publication and citation by the number of authors, and excluding self-citations.