Joining nations 1947-1990

EARLY DEVELOPMENTS, l 949- l 95 4

19

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT

The initial discussions of the Commissions revealed a number of problems concerning overlapping of work and during the succeeding months it became increasingly clear that action was needed to ensure closer collaboration among the Chairmen and more uniform methods of work. It was accordingly proposed in the Executive Council that a Scientific and Technical Secretariat should be established to oversee the work of the Commissions. After some hesitation the Governing Council agreed at the 1950 Assembly in Paris to the creation of this office in parallel with the General Secretariat, that is to say, each with a term of three years indefinitely renewable. At the same time, Mr Andre Leroy, the Director of the French Institute of Welding, was elected to the new post and the French delegation withdrew its reserves concerning the provision in the constitution for the re– election of the Secretary-General without any limitation of time. Andre Leroy was one of the dominant personalities in the IIW from l 950 until his retirement 24 years later and his contribution to the Institute was comparable with those of the five original members of the Executive Council. A chemist by training, he joined the lnstitut de Soudure as chief of the chemical laboratory and when the director– ship of the Institut became vacant during the war he was appointed to this post while still in his thirties. A man of great energy, blessed with a prodigious memory and the possessor of an encyclopaedic knowledge of welding technology, he brought to his task qualities which enabled him to conduct the band of disparate and often individualistic Chairmen of Commissions with a surprising degree of harmony and effectiveness. His role was particularly difficult in the early years when the concept of teamwork on which the IIW is based was not always clearly understood, when the operational rules of the Commissions were still being established, and when not all the existing Chairmen welcomed what was in effect the imposition of a new boss. With persuasiveness and patience, Andre Leroy overcame these difficulties and deserves much of the credit for the creation of a system which has in essence been maintained to this day and which has ensured both. co-ordination and collaboration in the activities of the Commissions. In his work as Scientific and Technical Secretary, Andre Leroy had the assistance of two persons who each made a remarkable contribution to the IIW in their own right. One was his eventual successor, Henry Granjon, of whom more will be written later. The l