Joining nations 1947-1990

30

JOINING NATIONS

resent his election and consequently be less supportive of the IIW. In the end the latter view prevailed and Dr Guerrera served as President from 1957 to 1960. The choice was appropriate for several reasons. He had shown his dynamism and his persuasiveness in securing the creation of Commission XV in 195 1, since when he had been its active and dedicated Chairman. As Director of the Italian Institute of Welding, he had been responsible for the successful 1954 Annual Assembly and had thus served as a Vice-President. Finally, he was the first President of the IIW to be a qualified welding engineer. His dedication to his work and his rigid standards of integrity were legendary but his manners were those of a man of the world, without trace of self-satisfaction or complacency. Dr Guerrera took over the Presidency at the 1957 Assembly in Essen, the organisation of which was primarily the work of Professor E Houdremont whose career in the IIW was brilliant but tragically short. Appointed Chairman of the original Commission XII Brittle Fractures in 1953, in 1954 he became Chairman of the new Commis– sion IX, resulting from the amalgamation of the former Commissions IX and XII. Because of his responsibilities for the 1957 Assembly, he was elected Vice-President in 1956 but he died in office shortly before the 1958 Assembly. His popularity was such that in 1958 his Commission passed a resolution, subsequently approved by the Governing Council, to the effect that Commission IX should organise in his memory an annual lecture; thus was a precedent created which, as we shall see, was followed by the commemoration in different ways of other leading IIW personalities. The fact that the precedent was set for Professor Houdremont, whose service lasted less than five years, is a tribute to the impression left on his contemporaries by his gifts as a leader, scientist, industrialist and musician as well as by his singular charm as a man. It is of interest to record that it was under the chairmanship of Professor Houdremont that Commission IX issued recommendations concerning weldable steels which were to have a profound influence on specifications far beyond the circle of the IIW. The year between the Assemblies of 1957 (Essen) and 1958 (Vienna) was marked by the completion of two exceptional tasks. The first was the preparation of a bilingual survey, comprising 250 pages plus illustrations, of the first 10 years of the IIW. The initiator of this work was the Founder President who acted as editor and saw the book through the press in time for its publication to coincide with the Vienna Assembly. It consisted of six general chapters outlining