Professor David Boger’s contributions to fundamental research in fluid mechanics are highlighted by a class of fluids which now bear his name globally – Boger Fluids. These fluids are constant-viscosity elastic (non-Newtonian) fluids that behave as both liquids and solids. The detailed experimental investigations using such materials to define fluid elasticity effects in important flows, the linking of basic surface chemistry to the continuum properties and processing of particulate fluids and the development of novel methods for flow property measurement have resulted in significant industrial outcomes in the petroleum, food, polymer and minerals industries.

The best known application of this research in Austarlia was solving the problem of disposing of ‘red mud’ (the waste product of the processing of bauxite to alumina), which was pivotal to developing environmentally acceptable processes for mining the low-grade bauxite in Western Australia. In addition to the financial benefits to the alumina industry, the work has been recognised by a series of national and international awards for its contribution to environmental management. There is a major activity in exploiting rheology for waste minimisation in the minerals industry.

Another major achievement resulting from Professor Boger’s research has been the development of a methodology by which the fluidity of high wax content crude oils is maintained for unimpeded pipeline transportation, providing significant financial gains to the oil industry.

Professor Boger’s fundamental work on non-Newtonian fluids has application also to the behaviour of drops of fluids. His recent research is linked to applications in atomisation, inkjet printing, delivery of agricultural chemicals, and with intelligent gels. In addition, fluid flow has become an important component of nanotechnology, offering new horizons for Boger Fluids. His current interest is in sustainability, rheology and the triple bottom line.

Professor Boger has been awarded numerous prizes for his research including the Annual Award of the British Society of Rheology in 1983 for notable contributions to rheology, and the 1995 Walter Ahlström Environmental Prize awarded annually by the Finnish Academies of Technology in recognition of significant technological achievements which advance industrial applications using energy and raw materials. He is a Fellow of the Learned Academies of Science and of Technological Sciences and Engineering. In 2003, Professor Boger received the Clunies Ross National Science and Technology Award, following from the Chemeca Medal of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Flinders Medal of the Australian Academy of Science in 2000, and the Victoria Prize in 2002. In 2004, Professor Boger received the British Society of Rheology Gold Medal, its highest award.