Berkely's Don Named Mahathir Science Award Winner

By AZMIR SHARIFUDDIN KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Many of the world's scientific achievements would not have been possible if weren't for the researchers association with Malaysia. The winners of Mahathir Science Award will attest that their findings happened due to their collaboration with their local peers and organisations. One of them is Professor James M. Kelly, from the University of California at Berkeley, United States the latest winner of the prestigious award. Kelly is considered father of base isolation who pioneered the development of seismic isolation and energy dissipation techniques. "My connection with research in Malaysia goes back almost 40 years, starting with the Malaysian Rubber Research Foundation in England and then later with the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur", Prof. Kelly said in his acceptance speech during the 2012 Mahathir Science Award in December 2013. RESEARCH IN SEISMIC RUBBER Professor Kelly started the development of seismic rubber bearing technology when he began to work with the Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association (now Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) in United Kingdom, which was the world’s renowned research and development centre on rubber. It was a joint project to evaluate the potential for natural rubber bearings to isolate buildings and bridges from damaging earthquakes. His work culminated in the use of high damping rubber bearing, the world’s first, developed by TARRC for the Law and Justice Centre building in San Bernadino, California in 1985. However, according to him, his rubber bearings research was difficult to sell to structural engineers back then as the engineers were not convinced that the rubber bearings would protect the building as his research suggested. He and his colleague then organised a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) and brought one of the engineers to meet with local rubber research technologists and scientists and he was shown how Malaysian natural rubber was an engineering material. The engineer was convinced and went back to California to convince other engineers to consider using the rubber bearings. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DISCOVERY "About 100,000 earthquakes happen every year and about 100 or so caused damages. Most casualties were not caused by the shaking of the ground itself, but by the collapse of the buildings. "The seismic rubber bearings minimises the risks and help save lives of many", Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, chairman of the Mahathir Science Award Foundation, said in his speech during the 2012 Mahathir Science Award presentation ceremony. The most notable impact of such technology was during the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe devastating earthquakes. All buildings on rubber bearings performed very well during the disaster, which instigated the Japanese government to install the technology in almost all newly built bridges in Japan, while all existing bridges were gradually retrofitted with rubber bearings. Currently, this technology is being utilised in more than 10,000 structures in earthquake and natural hazard-prone countries such as China, Indonesia, Iran, India, the United States, Taiwan, Italy, Armenia, Turkey and New Zealand. "In Malaysia, seismic rubber bearing has been employed in the construction of the Penang Second Bridge", Ahmad Sarji added. He said that Malaysia, as one of the largest producers of natural rubber is at the forefront in providing this technology to many building projects globally. THE PROFESSOR Born on May 25, 1935 in Hamilton, Scotland, Prof. Kelly started his engineering studies at University of Glasgow, Scotland and graduated in 1956 in Civil Engineering. He relocated across the Alantic to the United States where he obtained a master’s degree in Engineering Mechanics from Brown University, Rhode Island in 1959. He then went on to complete a PhD in Civil Engineering from Stanford University in California in 1962. In 1965, he started his career as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Currently, he serves as a professor at the Graduate School of the Department of Civil Engineering. He spent more than 30 years at the University, leading research of many graduate students in simulating and analysing the effects of using base isolation systems to mitigate structural damage during episodes of strong ground shaking. SCIENCE AWARD Meanwhile, Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, president of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) pointed out past recipients include Professor John Sheppard Mackenzie for his contribution in solving problems related to the Japanese Encephalitis virus in 2005 and University of Malaya's Medical Faculty in 2006 for outstanding contribution to the understanding and treatment of the Nipah Encephalitis. The others include Professor Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris in 2007 for his discovery of the aetiological agent causing SARS, Prof. Dr Gurdev Singh Khush who was honoured in 2008 for his revolutionary work in developing several rice varieties and Professor Yuan Long Ping in 2011, for developing hybrid rice, which revolutionised global rice production and sustainability. The Mahathir Science Award 2012 was awarded to Professor Kelly as the first recipient in the category of Tropical Architecture and Engineering after a thorough and careful selection process from 31 nominations from 11 countries around the world. ASM created an award in honour of Malaysia's fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohd to recognise achievements in the science of the tropics. -- BERNAMA