George Ball (scientist)

George Ball (scientist)

Dr. George F. A. Ball (August 9, 1944), pioneering road surface scientist, born at Auckland, New Zealand.Dr. Ball received his PhD in physics from Canterbury University in 1977. After a year with the Christchurch Industrial Development Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research he joined the Road Transportation Research Group at Opus International Consultants Central Laboratories in 1979 where he has been working ever since along with his many great papers on his areas of expertise. cite web|url=http://www.transit.govt.nz/content_files/news/ConferencePaper28_PDFFile.pdf |title=PERMEABILITIES OF CHIPSEALS IN NEW ZEALAND |format=PDF] As a child Dr. Ball taught himself to play cricket out of a book using his high intellect to work out motion theories and relate them to particular skills in cricket. He was a left arm orthodox bowler and was successful as a club cricketer until a serious back injury forced him into retirement. This left him to focus on his studies.

His Research

Dr. Ball is an expert on road surface technologies, especially lifetimes of bitumen, asphaltic concretes and chip seals. His theories on the effect of mositure on bitumen have been called 'visionary'. Dr. Ball carried out a number of tests on the effect of water on bitumen and chipseals in order to try and reduce flushingdn and blistering of the seal binder. He tested seal samples from a number of flushed sites and one unflushed site and then compared them. Both dynamic and static water pressure tests indicated that traffic on a wet road surface can force water into the surface where it may vaporize and form the blisters of seal binder than can eventually result in flushing. He found that it is possible that chipseal surfaces are far more permeable to water than has been commonly believed. Dr. Ball's results showed that moisture induced flushing can be brought about by two phenomena, both of which can be present at the same time. In the first scenario, vapor pressure from water in the base can push bitumen up through the seal layers. In the second, often brought about by tire pressure on wet roads, water enters through the surface because of a loss in bond between the stone and the binder. He found water needs a continuous passage way of less than 0.1mm diameter through the seal for water vapor flushing to occur. This was a revelation at time. Before this, scientists had only considered blisters in seal binder as a direct effect of flowing water as opposed to an indirect effect of water vapor. With this knowledge, and Dr. Ball’s research, significant advances have been made in road surface lifetime and durability.He has also be referred to as 'BALL BAGS' by some of his fellow colleagues.

Family life

Dr. Ball is happily married to his wife Vivian Ball and has two children, Anthony Ball and Georgina Ball. At home, Dr. Ball,or George has he is commonly called, enjoys reading, gardening and singing. He is a devout presbyterian and spends much of his spare time preaching sermons at the local church.

Throughout his life, Dr. Ball has maintained strong moral values and this has been shown through his terrific research and excellent family life.

The future

Hollywood insiders have reported that a screenplay treatment based on Dr. Ball's life is in talks. Acclaimed Horror director Wes Craven (A nightmare on Elm St, Scream) has requested to take on the project under Mirimax Films distribution. Insiders say "The film will essentially be an introduction to the intricate mind of Dr. Ball."

No further information is known, and it is likely production will begin mid 2008.

External links

* [http://www.transit.govt.nz/content_files/news/ConferencePaper28_PDFFile.pdf One of Dr Ball's papers]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • George Ball — can refer to:*George Wildman Ball, American diplomat *George Ball (scientist), New Zealand road surface scientist *George Thalben Ball, originally George Thomas Ball, English composer born in Australia *George Ball, Jr., U.S. Army Major General… …   Wikipedia

  • George Chapline, Jr. — George Frederick Chapline, Jr. is a condensed matter physicist, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is known for his several insights such as gossamer superconductors, which he discovered together with Robert Laughlin. He was awarded… …   Wikipedia

  • George Gabriel Stokes — Infobox Scientist box width = 300px name = George Stokes image size = 220px caption = Sir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet (1819–1903) birth date = birth date|1819|8|13|df=y birth place = Skreen, County Sligo, Ireland death date = death date… …   Wikipedia

  • George Peacock — Infobox Scientist name = George Peacock box width = 300px image width = 170px caption = birth date = April 9, 1791 birth place = Denton, Yorkshire, England death date = November 8, 1858 death place = Pall Mall, London, England residence = England …   Wikipedia

  • C. Olin Ball — Charles Olin Ball (1893–1970) was an American food scientist and inventor who was involved in the thermal death time studies in the food canning industry during the early 1920s. This research would be used as standard by the United States Food… …   Wikipedia

  • Timothy F. Ball — Timothy Francis Ball, Ph.D., is a retired university professor and global warming sceptic. He heads the Natural Resources Stewardship Project and formerly headed the activist organization Friends of Science, which was funded by energy industries …   Wikipedia

  • William Christian (Canadian political scientist) — Professor William Christian (b. Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia 1945 ) is a Political Scientist at the University of Guelph. Educated at the University of Toronto (BA, MA) and the London School of Economics (PhD), he is best known… …   Wikipedia

  • William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong — Infobox Engineer image width = 150px caption = Sir William George Armstrong name = Sir William George Armstrong nationality = English birth date = November 26 1810 birth place = Tyneside, Tyne and Wear death date = Death date and… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name — The following is a List of Légion d honneur recipients by name. The Légion d honneur is the highest order of France.Combined list of recipients (by last name):A* Nils Waltersen Aasen * Louise Abbéma * Alfred Agache (painter) * Akihito, Emperor of …   Wikipedia

  • List of Northwestern alumni — The following is a list of notable alumni who attended Northwestern UniversityAcademia * Madeleine Wing Adler (B.A. 1962), President, West Chester University * Robert J. Alpern (B.A. 1972), Dean, Yale School of Medicine * Elijah Anderson (Ph.D.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”