Academics,
electrical engineer, inventor (B. 2nd September 1928, Diyarbakır / Turkey - D. 3rd
March 2017, Zurich / Switzerland ). Muzaffer Canay was born
on 2nd September 1928 in Turkey and grew up close to the Sea of Marmara at the
foot of the Uludag mountain range. He studied electrical engineering at the
Technical University Istanbul and obtained his Bachelors degree in 1951 and his
Masters in 1954, both with top grades. In 1953 the university had mediated a
vacation job with the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon MFO in Zurich, Switzerland,
which was complemented the following year by a three-month internship. This
resulted in his passion for the theory of electrical machines being spurred on
by a renowned mentor. In 1956 Canay, as a young engineer, returned to
Switzerland, this time to BBC in Baden, and then, after two years of military
service in his homeland, he again returned to BBC where in 1959 he joined the
department for research and development of electrical machines. In the same
year Muzaffer married his Swiss fiancé Melanie Wirth. Lecturing activities in
1961/62 led to the electrical engineering chair in Istanbul. Afterwards, he continued
his career with BBC – with an upward trend in responsibility and position
uninterrupted until his retirement in 1993.
BBC,
later ABB, offered I.M. Canay the ideal working environment in the field of
electrical machines and readily deployed his theory-talents for the further
development of its technology. The main machines involved were
hydro-generators, turbine-generators and large synchronous motors, in
particular their dynamic behavior under extraordinary operating conditions.
Every study assignment entrusted to the calm and reliable thinker Canay was
motivation for new horizons. He himself questioned the limits for calculation
processes. He achieved a huge success with his investigation «Extended
equivalent circuits of the synchronous machine and predetermination of its
characteristic quantities». In 1968 he presented this work as an external
dissertation for his PhD degree at the Ecole Polytechnique de l’Université de
Lausanne thus continuing the heritage of his former mentor Theodor Laible Dr. h.c.
of the MFO in a worthy manner. A wealth of theoretical projects were to follow
– technically valuable and scientifically top-ranking many of which were
presented and published – the majority of almost 70 articles appeared as IEEE
papers. The hallmark of his work was that the theoretical key findings were
always substantiated by tests on large generators and motors in the company’s
own test bay or in the users’ plants. To promote young talents Canay repeatedly
held special lectures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich for
advanced students and engineers.
Dr.
I.M. Canay received numerous awards for his achievements: in 1972 it was the
Sebastian-Ziani-de-Ferranti Premium presented in England, in 1975 it was the
Fondation George Montefiore Prix in Belgium, 1990 the Heinrich Hertz Preis from
the Badenwerk Foundation awarded at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. In
addition he received the PES Working Group Award for his participation in
developing the new IEEE Standard 115-1995 „IEEE Test Procedures for Synchronous
Machines“. He also received an honorable mention in the book «Ingenieure bauen
die Schweiz» („Engineers building Switzerland“), published by the NZZ
Mediengruppe in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013. But his greatest recognition of
all is that the extended equivalent circuits of the synchronous machine
suggested by him have been adopted by almost all international experts.
Dr.
I.M. Canay passed away on 3rd March 2017, he was 88 years old. A large funeral
congregation paid their last respects in the Reformed Church in Birr (Canton
Aargau, Switzerland). Among those present were many professional colleagues and
friends, especially employees and ex-employees from the factory in Birr, the
original motor and generator manufacturing facility of the Brown Boveri Cie.
(BBC). It was primarily here that I.M. Canay carried out his work as a research
and development engineer for electrical machines.
Dr.
I.M. Canay is survived by his wife, two daughters and three grandsons. Mourning
with his family is also a grateful international electro-technical community.
WORKS:
Havai
Hat Mahallerinde Floş ve Gerileme Hesabı Metotları ve Yeni Bir Metot (1954).
Sovyet Rusya’nın Uçak Kudreti (1954).
REFERNCE: Şevket Beysanoğlu / Diyarbakırlı Fikir ve Sanat Adamları ( c. III, 2. Bas. 1997), İhsan Işık / Diyarbakır Ansiklopedisi (2013) - Geçmişten Günümüze Diyarbakırlı İlim Adamları Yazarlar ve Sanatçılar (2014), http://ethw.org/w/index.php?title=I._Muzaffer_Canay&oldid=155278, Dr. Azmi Güran BilgiTeyidi (ABD, 31 Ağustos 2017).
