Jakob Kübarsepp
Jakob Kübarsepp is an Estonian engineer and materials scientist. He is a professor emeritus and senior researcher at the Tallinn University of Technology and a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.
Kübarsepp's research focuses on powder metallurgy and wear-resistant materials, including ceramic–metal composites and the wear and corrosion behaviour of powder materials. In 2024 he received Estonia's national science lifetime achievement award.
Education
Kübarsepp studied mechanical engineering at the Tallinn Polytechnical Institute, graduating in 1970.He continued postgraduate studies in metals technology and defended a candidate thesis in 1979 at the D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology in Moscow on the technology and properties of titanium carbide cermets with a steel binder.
In 1992 he defended his doctoral thesis Terassideainega kermised at the Tallinn University of Technology.
He undertook research training at institutions including the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, TU Darmstadt, and Tampere University of Technology.
Career
From 1970 to 1975, Kübarsepp worked as an engineer at the Special Design Bureau of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR.From 1975 onward he has been affiliated with the Tallinn University of Technology, progressing from researcher in the powder metallurgy laboratory to professor of metals technology.
He served as vice-rector for academic affairs at the Tallinn University of Technology in 2000–2011 and again in 2014–2017.
Since 2021, he has held the status of professor emeritus at TalTech.
Kübarsepp was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 2011.
In research governance, he was appointed to the council of the Estonian Research Council in 2019.
Research
According to Estonia's Ministry of Education and Research, Kübarsepp's lifetime work includes developing very strong and durable coatings and wear-resistant lightweight composites using powder-metallurgy methods while avoiding certain strategic, expensive, or environmentally hazardous metals.His research has also addressed tool materials and their applications in metal forming, and wear and corrosion processes in powder materials.
In 2005 Kübarsepp led the engineering-sciences award-winning cycle of works on developing micro- and nanotechnological research methods for industrial materials development.
Awards and honours
- 1985 – Estonian SSR State Prize
- 2005 – Estonian national science award
- 2006 – Order of the White Star
- 2024 – Estonian national science lifetime achievement award