John J. Jonas (December 8, 1932 – February 3, 2025) was born in Montreal and graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1954.
On returning to Montreal, he began teaching "mechanical metallurgy" at McGill and built up a research laboratory that includes a number of specialized testing machines and is particularly well equipped for experimental investigations in the field of high temperature deformation.
Dr. Jonas is known internationally for the ground breaking studies that he and his students and colleagues have carried out at McGill on the hot rolling behaviour of metals.
He has served as a visiting professor in a number of countries, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK, the US and the USSR.
In this capacity, he worked closely with the Canadian steel industry, and collaborated in the solution of a number of important processing problems.