Michael George Zabetakis

Michael George Zabetakis
Born	3 March 1924 Burgettstown, PA
Died	21 Jan 2005 Bridgeville, PA
Citizenship	USA
Alma mater	Washington & Jefferson, University of Pittsburgh
Known for	Fire safety engineering Mine Safety and Health Administration

Michael George Zabetakis (born 1924) is a fire safety engineering specialist. He received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1956.^[1] In 1965 he published data for flammability limits, autoignition, and burning-rate data for more than 200 combustible gases and vapors in air and other oxidants, as well as of empirical rules and graphs that can be used to predict similar data for thousands of other combustibles under a variety of environmental conditions.^[2] The work remains one of the most widely cited sources of flammability data. Despite its age it was still in 1999 considered the standard reference.^[3] Zabetakis often uses flammability diagrams to show flammable properties of fuel-air-nitrogen mixtures.

Zabetakis was the first superintendent of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy.

Sources

• Drysdale, Dougal (1999). An Introduction to Fire Dynamics (2nd ed.. Wiley. pp. 470. ISBN 0471972916. 

• Zabetakis, Michael G. (1965). Flammability characteristics of combustible gases and vapors (Buletin 627). US Bureau of Mines, Wash., D.C.. pp. 129. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD701576.  (His main work, 6.3Mb download)

References

1. ^ "Ph.D.s Awarded by the University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry - 1913-2004". University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry. Revised 10/3/2006. http://cwt4.chem.pitt.edu/grad/phdlist.asp. Retrieved 8 Feb 2009. "1956. 291. Zabetakis, Michael George. An Automatic Adiabatic Calorimeter Shield Control. Low Temperature Heat Capacity and Related Properties of Zinc." 
2. ^ Zabetakis 1965
3. ^ Drysdale 1999:75

External links

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Obituary for Dr.Zabetakis

Persondata
Name	Zabetakis, Michael George
Alternative names
Short description	Safety engineer
Date of birth	dt=1924
Place of birth	Burgettstown, PA
Date of death	dt=2005
Place of death	Bridgeville, PA