H. Beecher Charmbury (SME)
Percy Nicholls Award in
1977
H. Beecher Charmbury is assistant dean emeritus from the Pennsylvania State University. Since his retirement in 1973 Dr. Charmbury has been serving as a consultant to government and industry on mining and environmental problems.
Dr. Charm bury served on the faculty and staff of the Pennsylvania State University from 1937 except for an eight year period between 1963 and 1971 during which time he was granted a leave of absence to serve as secretary of mines and mineral industries for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a cabinet member. In this capacity he developed the State's program "Operation Scarlift" designed to remove the scars of unrestricted coal mining in Pennsylvania. He also helped to develop methods to eliminate stream pollution form mine drainage, to eliminate air pollution from burning coal refuse dumps, to prevent surface damage from mine subsidence, to control and eliminate underground mine fires and to utilize coal refuse material.
Dr. Charmbury has lectured in Liege, Belgium and in Frankfurt, Germany on his work in coal preparation. He also served as a visiting scholar lecturer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He has been a member of AIME since 1950.