John Julian Pique
John Julian Pique ( -1971)
1971 Obituary [1]
John Julian Pique (Fellow), a pioneer in the freezing of fish at sea, died on May 31st Belgian born, and a graduate of Ghent University, he came to England after distinguished war service. He acquired experience in the manufacture and application of marine refrigeration with The Liverpool Refrigeration Company and later assisted in experimental and research work in connection with the fishing industry in Scotland. By 1924 he had become a Senior Scientific Officer with the Food Investigation Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Cambridge, the fish section of which was the predecessor of the Torry Research Station established at Aberdeen in 1929. His paper on The Freezing of Fish on Land and at Sea, presented to the Fourth International Congress of Refrigeration in 1924, is a classic and he became a leading figure in the development of factory ships off the coast of Greenland, freezing halibut in sodium chloride brine.
After some years as a consultant in private practice in the 1930's, he returned to research in 1941 as Head of the Engineering Sections of the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment and later of the Armament Research Establishment until he retired, after which he was on special duties in re-concentrating laboratory and other facilities.