Delbert Day has been named the fortieth recipient of the prestigious Phoenix Award, which is presented annually to an individual selected by the award’s committee for their contributions to glass and the glass industry.
Dr Day recently retired from the Missouri University of Science and Technology as Curators’ Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering, as well as Senior Investigator of the Graduate Centre for Materials Research.
During the course of his career as a university lecturer and researcher, Dr Day published more than 300 technical papers addressing the structure, properties and uses of glass. He also edited three books and received a total of 44 US and foreign patents, including for glass microspheres for medical applications such as radiation therapy, glasses for vitrifying nuclear waste and high-temperature ceramics.
Dr Day is co-inventor of TheraSphere glass microspheres, which are used at more than 100 sites across the world to treat patients with inoperable liver cancer, as well as Glasphalt – a system that recycles waste glass by using it as part of the aggregate in asphalt paving.
A further achievement is having conducted the first US glass melting experiments in micro gravity on NASA’s space shuttle.
Dr Day is the former Chairman and President of MO-SCI Corp; a company that he co-founded to manufacture special-purpose glass microspheres, fibres and frot. Today, he continues to work as a researcher and teacher, as well as a consultant, entrepreneur and commercial pilot and flight instructor.
The Phoenix Award Committee each year selects a person who has actively contributed to any field of the glass industry, including science, production or glass-related education. The award – a glass sculpture of the mythological Phoenix bird – is presented to the recipient at a special ceremony, details of which are to be announced.
