The Journal of Explosives Engineering - March/April 2013 - 13

Forensic Investigation of Explosions. He holds six U.S. patents and numerous associated foreign patents on various
aspects of explosives and mining technology.
Bob is a Legion of Honor member of the Society of
Mining Engineers (SME) of the AIME; a former member of
IABTI; a full member of Sigma Xi. He served on the NFPA
technical committee on Explosives from 2001 to 2009, and
is a member and past board member of the ISEE. He has
served as chairman of the Technical Committee of IME;
was subcommittee chairman of the National Academy of

Sciences committee on tagging explosives; and served on
a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory committee on
Reducing the Ambiguity and Visibility of Signals from Mining Activities, in support of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. In August 1995, he testified in the Oklahoma City
bombing case. He appeared on the History Channel program - Dynamite. From 2000-2009, he was the executive
director of DEDA (the Dyno Nobel explosives distributor’s
organization).

Distinguished Service Award
The Distinguished Service Award is the Society’s annual award of merit given to an individual
who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of explosives engineering.

Wolfgang W. Thum

Between 1955 and 1960, Wolgang Thum completed his practical training, mainly in the mines of the Black
Forest, but also in other mines that were notorious bone mills at that time. The extremely hard work on the
coal face and especially the impersonal and harsh climate at this coal mine, almost lead him to put an end to
his mining studies.
In 1956, he started his studies at a university in Leoben in Austria. He continued his studies at Clausthal
School of Mining, where he graduated in 1962 with a diploma in mining.After that, he worked in the limestone
industry as an operations assistant. From 1964 to 1971, he served as research associate at the Institute for Road
Construction, Earthwork and tunnel construction, his final role being as senior engineer.
In 1970, he earned a doctorate in engineering. He was a lecturer in blasting techniques at Aachen University
for 34 years.
He was also committed to giving training in explosives outside university, and supported training courses at
the Accident Prevention & Insurance Association.
In 1978, his book Sprengtechnik (Blasting Technique) was published and to this day this is still a reference
book for experts.
In his professional career, he was managing director of Haniel Sprengtechnik, from 1971-1982.Then in 1983,
he took over this company and re-named it Westspreng GmbH, and served as managing partner until his retirement in 2005. During this time he implemented techniques which revolutionized and impacted the production
and use of commercial explosives in Germany. Some of these included:
· Introduced onsite production, including the mechanical loading of water-resistant, non-explosive blasting
agents into the blasthole using mixing and loading trucks.
· Introduced third generation of water containing-explosives, the Emulgite-explosives by Westspreng, heralded
another clear improvement in safety efficiency
and transportation costs.
· Measured quarry bench faces and heights using laser technology.
· Blast hole measuring.
· Introduced non-electric initiating in Germany
· Implemented redundant initiating systems for
quarry blasting.
Under the expert lead of this gentleman,Westspreng developed into a European market leader
for non-explosive blasting agents.The employees
of Westspreng all felt like the members of a large
family under the supervision of their fact-based
and comprehensive boss. Despite having a tight
schedule based on professional obligations, he
always found time for personal discussion and
to solve problems.
John Capers (left) presents award to Wolfgang Thum (right).

March/April 2013

The Journal of Explosives Engineers

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The Journal of Explosives Engineering - March/April 2013

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