The eight faces to appear on IChemE’s new medals

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has announced the names of eight people, from the fields of chemical, process and biochemical engineering, whose achievements are to be honoured by a series of new medals named after them.

The medals are the first to be announced by IChemE since 2006 and are designed to recognise the work of the wider chemical engineering academic community, who contribute so much to advance the profession and society in general.

The people to be honoured are MM Sharma, Derek Geldart, Edward A Guggenheim, R. Byron Bird, Warren E. Stewart, Edwin N. Lightfoot, Roger Sargent and Don Nicklin.

Claudia Flavell-While, IChemE director of publications, said: “We are very pleased to announce the names behind our new medals and celebrate some of their iconic achievements and contributions stretching back nearly a hundred years.

“We have honoured chemical engineers from Australia, India, USA and the UK and several of our new medals are to be named posthumously. I would like to thank the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased, who have given their permission to honour their achievements in this way.

“IChemE is looking forward to celebrating their historic achievements and perpetuating their names in the future by awarding their medals to the next generations of chemical engineers for decades to come.”

IChemE’s new medals and the names behind them

MM Sharma medal for career achievement

The new Career Achievement medal is named after Man Mohan Sharma. He was born in 1937 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and educated in Mumbai and University of Cambridge.

At the age of 27 years, he was appointed professor of chemical engineering at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai. He later became director of ICT.

His honours include the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan awards presented by the president of India.

He was the first Indian engineer to be elected as a Fellow of Royal Society and was awarded their Leverhulme medal. MM Sharma has also received the S.S. Bhatnagar prize in engineering sciences, the FICCI award, the Vishwakarma medal, G.M. Modi award, Meghnad Saha medal, and has an honorary doctor of science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Geldart medal for research in particle technology

Derek Geldart was emeritus professor of powder technology in the department of chemical engineering at the University of Bradford, UK.

He was renowned for his diagram classifying powders according to their fluidization behaviour and a respected member of the worldwide particle technology community. He graduated from Newcastle University and worked as a researcher with the UK Atomic Energy Authority before joining the University of Bradford. He gained a PhD for his research in fluidization in 1971.

Derek’s early publications included his Classification of Powders, which after an initial struggle for acceptance, became one of the most cited works in the field. Derek died in 2012.

Guggenheim medal for research in thermodynamics and complex fluids

Edward A Guggenheim is one of the most well known thermodynamicists of the 20th century. He was professor at the University of Reading and was instrumental in leading and building up chemistry there, from 1946 when he was appointed professor, until he retired in 1966.

Guggenheim authored several books and is noted for his 1933 publication of the Modern Thermodynamics by the Methods of Willard Gibbs. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1946. In 1972, the E. A. Guggenheim Memorial Fund was established by friends and colleagues. Edward died in 1970.

Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot medal for research in transport phenomena

R. Byron Bird is an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the department of chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Warren Earl Stewart was McFarland-Bascom professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He died in 2006.

Edwin N. Lightfoot is a chemical engineer and the Hilldale professor emeritus in the department of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In the 1950s, Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot developed an undergraduate course at the University of Wisconsin to integrate the teaching of fluid flow, heat transfer, and diffusion. From this beginning, they prepared the landmark textbook, Transport Phenomena, published in 1960.

This textbook, referred to by generations of chemical engineers simply as BSL after its authors, would remain in print for 41 years and see five translations.

Sargent medal for research in computer aided product and process engineering

Roger Sargent is a retired, emeritus professor and senior research fellow in the chemical engineering department, Imperial College London. A great personality, he is considered a pioneer of process system engineering.

He obtained his BSc in chemical engineering at Imperial College in 1947, and stayed on to work for a PhD on low temperature separation techniques.

He became director of the Centre for Process Systems Engineering from its launch in August 1989 until he retired in 1992. He has been involved in the application of computers to engineering since their beginnings in the early fifties, and is a past president of IChemE. 

Nicklin medal¹ for early career achievement

Don Nicklin was a past chair of IChemE in Australia, head of chemical engineering at the University of Queensland and held several consultancy positions in industrial institutes and research bodies.

He was chair at Austa Energy Corporation and the Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment. He held positions on the board of the Sugar Research Institute, the Industry Research and Development Board and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He has been described as a ‘legendary figure in Australia’ for his work in the field of chemical engineering. Don died in 2007.

 

IChemE will announce the name behind the Research in Separations medal in the near future.

The latest medal additions mean that IChemE can present up to 27 peer-reviewed medals and prizes each year to recognise the outstanding contribution being made by chemical engineers worldwide.

The deadline for applying for the medals is 31 October 2014, with full details online.