Professor Emeritus David F. James (MIE) has received the 2011 Annual Award from the British Society of Rheology (BSR) for his contributions to the understanding of flow properties of viscoelastic fluids.

Professor James achieved fame for his “tubeless siphon,” liquid that can flow uphill, which he discovered while a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology. He demonstrated his discovery in the 1967 quiz program, “I’ve Got A Secret.”

He joined the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering in 1967. In 1984, he received the inaugural Teaching Award from the Faculty, and later served as Chair of the Division of Engineering Science from 1991 to 1995.

Though he retired in 2005, Professor James acts as a teaching mentor, applying his nearly 40 years of pedagogical experience in the classroom to help new faculty become better teachers. He continues to direct research at the U of T Rheology Laboratory in areas of fluid mechanics, flow of non-Newtonian fluids, as well as experimental and theoretical rheology, among other fields. He is currently supervising four graduate students.

“I am delighted that Professor Emeritus David F. James has been recognized by his colleagues of the British Society of Rheology,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “On behalf of the Faculty, I congratulate him on this honour and his exceptional commitment to ongoing teaching and research.”

The Society was first founded as a British Rheologists’ Club in 1940, with the objective of promoting science and disseminating knowledge in the areas of pure and applied rheology, a field which studies the flow of matter. Today, one third of the Society’s 400 members are from outside the United Kingdom.

Professor James will give a plenary lecture and receive his award at the Society’s meeting in Aberystwyth, Wales on December 18, 2012.