Alfred L. Simon died at his residence in London on April 16th, 1927, after a short illness, at the age of 65.
He was born in Alsace, and received his technical training at Zurich, where he graduated in 1885 with the degree of D.Phil. His first professional engagement; of any note was in France as manager of china clay works, and he subsequently utilized the experience then gained in dealing with similar problems in Cornwall.
After spending several years in various European laboratories, he joined the staff of H. Eckstein & Co., in Johannesburg. On leaving South Africa he was for a few years in Australia on behalf of the firm of Rothschilds. He started practice in London as a consulting engineer in 1900, and in the course of time made reports on a variety of properties. He was associated with mining activities in Russia, reporting on Kyshtim and Sissert, and managing coal mines in the Ukraine. In 1925 he was engaged for a short period on a mine in the South of France, which however failed to fulfil his expectations, and subsequent to that he devoted considerable time to devising a suitable treatment of the tin-bearing sands of the Carnon Valley, Cornwall.
He contributed several papers to the Transactions of the Institution, ‘Notes on Fouché’s
Aëro-Condenser’ (vol. vii, 1898-9); ‘Siberian Mines and Mining Conditions’ (vol. xvi, 1906-7); ‘Zangezour Copper Mines’ (vol. xviii, 1908-9); ‘Copper Leaching Plant in the Ural-Mountains’
(vol. xix, 1909-10); and two in collaboration, ‘Gels in Relation to Ore Deposition’ with Mr. E. Hatschek (vol. xxi, 1911-12), and ‘Notes on Tin-recovery and Tin-dressin’, with his son, Mr. R.O. Simon (vol. xxiv, Part 1, 1924-5).
Dr. Simon was elected a Member of the Institution in 1898.
Vol. 37, Trans I.M.M., 1927-28, pp.580-81
