Anthony
Arthur Leonard Challis
(1921-1996)
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Tony Challis came from a
family long established as boat and barge
builders at Rotherhithe, Kent. His father was an
engineer who joined the infant car making
industry ( Sunbeam Motor Car Co. ) in 1903. Tony
graduated in chemistry in 1943 at what later
became the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and
went on to obtain a PhD on the utilization of
plant essential oils.
From 1944 - 46 he did National Service in the
Royal Engineers.
Dr Challis joined ICI Billingham Division in 1946
as a Chemical Engineer developing a process for
making amines. In 1951, he joined the start-up
team of the new technology cracker at Wilton,
designed to produce what seemed then to be the
huge quantities of ethylene needed for
polyethylene. Later, after a period in the world
of planning and forecasting, Challis led a group
which improved the ICI process for making
paraxylene, the key intermediate for PET. His
research continued on making other building
blocks used to make polymers.
In 1966, Challis became Research Director of ICI's
Mond Division and a year later he was appointed
Head of the new Petrochemicals and Polymers
Laboratory. In 1970, he headed up the Company
Planning Department in London. From 1974 -76, he
was Senior Vice President ICI Americas in
Wilmington, Delaware, but wanting to be closer to
his first love, research, in 1976 he was
appointed Director of the newly formed Polymer
Engineering Directorate of the Science and
Engineering Research Council.
In 1980, Dr Challis became Chief Scientist in the
Government's Department of Energy, with a budget
of £45 million, half on offshore R & D. He
retired from this position in 1983, having been
awarded the CBE in 1981, and then devoted himself
to numerous causes. He was Chairman of the
Plastics and Rubber Institute in 1983 and
President in 1985. He helped set up a project on
behalf of the Worshipful Company of Horners for
Polymer Study Tours for school teachers. He was
active on the Watt Committee on Energy, the
Council for the Preservation of Rural England,
the Wolfson Centre for Materials Processing at
Brunel University, the Gauge and Toolmakers
Association; and he played a key role in
developing Pentamode, the product design and
manufacturing code for plastics engineers.
Tony Challis's home was in Somerset where again,
in so-called retirement, he was an important
contributor to local organizations. He was
married for nearly 50 years to Beryl and they had
two daughters. |