Jan Leja was born in Grodzisko, Poland in 1918 and grew up in a family of six children. In 1939, his university studies of two years in Metallurgical Engineering at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow were discontinued due to World War II. From 1939 until 1942, Jan Leja was incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps in Sibera. Being fortunate to survive that ordeal, Jan Leja rejoined the Polish army in Russia and was sent to England for training. This move, while short on paper, lasted two months continuously on a troop ship travelling around the Cape, into a fleet of U-boats, being chased to Rio de Janiero then on to England via Iceland. Once in England, his army training was in parachuting to be dropped back into Poland. Trainees at that time had no reserve chutes and equipment malfunctions were high.
Fortunately Jan Leja was not dropped into Poland. Instead, he enrolled in Metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines toward the end of World War II, and was granted an A.R.S.M. and B.Sc. with first class honours in 1945. In 1947, he was also awarded a Diploma Ing. from the University of Krakow. His graduate research results from the Royal School of Mines were mis-used, and so in 1952 Jan Leja re-enrolled for postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge. He was granted a Ph.D (Cantal.) in 1954 for his highly original work on "Molecular Interactions at Interfaces, as Applied to Flotation Phenomena". Jan Leja's graduate research work with his supervisor, Dr. Jack Schulmann, and colleagues at the Royal School of Mines contributed dramatically to our understanding of the functions of flotation frothers, particularly poly-oxyethylene and poly-oxypropylene type reagents. Prior to Jan Leja's work, little was known of the crucial molecular interactions of frother molecules with collector-coated mineral surfaces to affect bubble-mineral attachment. Interspersed between these periods of postgraduate study from 1949 to 1952, Jan Leja served as mill superintendent at the South West Africa Company Mine in Grootfontein, S.W. Africa.
After the early Polish-Siberian episodes in his life and his second in England and Africa, which brought him not only scientific prominence but also an English bride, Mary, and a growing family, the Lejas moved to Canada.
Jan Leja joined the Department of Mining and Metallurgy at the University of Alberta in 1957. He attained the rank of full professor in 1963. Jan became Professor of Mineral Process Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1965 and served admirably in that position until his retirement in 1983.
Jan Leja has won several awards for his teaching and research in mineral process engineering. These include the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy ALCAN Award, an honorary degree of Doctor of Honorarius Causa from the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland, and the University of British Columbia Walter Gage Teaching Award. Jan has authored over 60 technical papers. He also holds four patents on mineral processing. His excellent textbook "Surface Chemistry of Froth Flotation" is a highly significant contribution and is a standard text used around the world.
Jan and his wife Mary have six children and many grandchildren.
Those of us who have had the pleasure of working in association with Jan Leja treasure the experience and the enrichment of our lives. Jan passed away November 4th, 2009 in Victoria, British Columbia.
Extensive parts of this text were prepared by Dr. George Poling, Jan Leja’s student and a long-term member of the UBC Mining Engineering Department.
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