Talk:List of chemical engineers

Cindy Crawford
Man, this is a short list. Can anyone verify the urban legend that CIndy Crawford studied chemical engineering?
 * Cindy attended Northwestern University but never graduated.
 * I removed Cindy Crawford's name. Studying one semester as a Chemical Engineer does not make you a chemical engineer. I think only people who should be on this list are chemical engineers and those who have made scientific discoveries related directly to the Chemical Engineering field. As in, discovery of distillation would be a chemistry discovery but design of a process to distill 50,000 barrels a day would be chemical engineering. 24.249.147.3

Other Topics
I don't like the way this page looks. Anyone object to making it a standard bulleted list? Or the name/known for/affiliation table is pretty nice; is there any way to use CSS or XML to make adding entries easy so noobs like me don't have to wrestle with too much markup code like | || etc? BTW, http://sdcc13.ucsd.edu/~aiche/xceleb.html says that Dolph Lundgren has a masters.
 * Agree it could look better but I'm not sure what to do yet. I'm trying to find more ChE's who have contributed a good bit of research to the field. Honestly, it is somewhat difficult as a lot of research, etc. isn't put up in front of the public's eye as much as research in other fields. Who would really want to read about a new way to perform gasification of coal other than someone in that area of research - Reflux 09:00, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be a list of individuals that completed a chemical engineering program? I don't think Cindy Crawford and Ashton Kutcher deserve a place here.
 * I agree with this statement. Studing ChE for one semester doesn't make you a Chemical Engineer. I think people who made discoveries related to Chemical Engineer should be on the list though as your degree does not always dictate the work you will be studying/researching. Enviornmental, Chemical, and Petrleum engineering are closely related in their core ideas. Each one then has their own, specific and different area of study but could work in a ChE job position or do research that would directly benefit the chemical engineering field. 24.249.147.3 23:22, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Exactly... One quarter (or semester) in the chemical engineering major does not make you an engineer.
 * Perhaps they should be moved to something like a "Trivia" section at the bottom of the page?--GregRM 02:29, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree 100% that they should not be considered ChE24.249.147.3 23:27, 24 July 2006 (UTC)


 * I started a trivia header to fix the issue. --Sadi Carnot 13:51, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Doing things that benefit chemical engineering does not make you a chemical engineer, otherwise the list would be filled with mathematicians and scientists. A degree in chemical engineering or membership of AIChE, IChemE etc would qualify in my view. Prior to 1900, we must use reasonable judgement as to people that we would today recognise as chemical engineers and not chemists or mechanical engineers. Wikipedia content must be verifiable. Chemical Engineer 12:21, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

It seems to me that people are adding friends and textbook authors. I don't see that being a university professor or a company director alone is worth adding to the list. If it is, we should have all the heads of chemical engineering departments in the world, and a lot of company CEOs. Writing a textbook is again not exactly unique - if we include all of them, it would add more than a hundred to the list. Quite a few people have written one good specialist text. However, any texts which can be demonstrated to be exceptional in their impact should make the authors notable. Here I would take the originators and not necessarily everyone whom contributes to subsequent editions. Examples of exceptional books would be Perry's Handbook, Coulson & Richardson, Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot. I would not put in Richard Felder just because of his book with Rousseau. I would put him in because it is a verifiable fact that he has won many awards for his contribution to education.Chemical Engineer 12:21, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Self-poster Daniel Shanefield does not mention chemical engineering in his biography. If he is a chemical engineer, why is he not a member of the AIChE? Chemical Engineer 12:21, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

What is the evidence for Sady Homrich being a chemical engineer? Chemical Engineer 12:21, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone know why there were so many entries of people that seem to have little to do with chemical engineering? I removed some, but I think there are more that could be left off as well. Tnxman307 (talk) 20:59, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I think Perl and Steinberger can be dropped. 64.91.216.14 (talk) 23:08, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I concur with the previous post. Both Perl and Steinberger are physicists and won Nobel prizes in that category. Their connection to chemical engineering is rather remote, so I am removing them from the list of notable chemical engineers.ChemE50 (talk) 23:17, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

FYP
FYP is a prominent ChE who has been working in the field for 15 years. He received his Master's degree in Canada, is a prominent member of AIChE, and has been forwarding the field medicine and spearheading new chemical research within Ontario. There seems to be some sort of bias in not including him upon this rather short and dubious list; he's clearly not Cindy Crawford. (talk) 21:21, 17 January 2009 (EST) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.253.87.200 (talk)
 * In the remote chance that you are serious, create an article about the person you call FYP (with references by others to the value of his/her work). Linking it to the acronym disambiguation page FYP is not helpful.  See Notability (academics) to see if this person passes the 'professor test'.  Your description could apply to thousands of worthwhile academics who are not in Wikipedia. Chemical Engineer (talk) 16:02, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Criteria for listing
In my opinion, the criteria for inclusion on or exclusion from this list are unclear. I think many of the comments above support this. It seems to me that some written guidance would be very helpful. Ideally, this list should contain people who have demonstrated skills, knowledge and abilities in the field of chemical engineering. The sentence above the actual list reads, “This is a list of notable chemical engineers, people who studied or practiced chemical engineering.” As of 25 August 2009, the list includes several people who may have enrolled in a chemical engineering program but have either become notable in an unrelated career or have not practiced chemical engineering to any significant degree. A far larger number of individuals who influenced the work of later engineers are not mentioned.ChemE50 (talk) 14:20, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Here are my suggestions for inclusion: • He/she should have earned an engineering degree and should have practiced in this field for at least five years. • He/she should have made a significant contribution to the field (e.g., patent, peer-reviewed publication, peer citations, professional awards, etc.) ChemE50 (talk) 14:20, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Proposed additions
In my opinion, the following individuals deserve to be included in this list.ChemE50 (talk) 02:10, 27 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Lawrence B. Evans. CEO of Rive Technology, Inc. Contributed significantly to commercial development of ASPEN process simulation technology. Elected to National Academy of  Engineering  in 2001), “For leadership in the development and application of integrated systems for modeling, simulation, and optimization of industrial chemical processes”.
 * Merrell R. Fenske. (1904 – 1971) Professor of chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Developed the Fenske equation, to calculate the minimum reflux needed to separate two binary components by continuous fractional distillation.
 * Donald Q. Kern. Chemical engineering professor at Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western University). Author of Process Heat Transfer, a major reference for designers of heat transfer equipment. Namesake of the AIChE Donald Q. Kern award.
 * Riki Kobayashi. Professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Rice University. Emeritus member of the National Academy of Engineering, Elected 1995, “… for advances in the knowledge and measurement of the thermodynamic and transport properties of natural gas liquids and gas hydrates”.
 * John J. McKetta. Professor emeritus of chemical engineering at University of Texas. Editor of “Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design.” Emeritus member of the National Academy of Engineering. Elected 1970. Cited for Enlightening experiments on fluid behavior and the director of technical publications.
 * Frank M. Tiller. (1917 – 2006) M. D. Anderson Distinguished Professor at University of Houston. Noted for research in solid-liquid separation and a founder of the American Filtration and Separation Society.
 * A. J. V. Underwood. University College of London. Developed a correlation to estimate the minimum reflux required to produce a specific concentration of a feed component in the distillate from a specified concentration in the feed. The Underwood equation is also known as the Underwood-Fenske equation.
 * F. A. Zenz. Has published extensively on the topic of fluidized particles, including fluidized beds and pneumatic conveying.
 * Yes but the way to do it is to create a page for the individual first, which has references. The above may be true, but they are unsubstantiated until you have the page to refer to. Chemical Engineer (talk) 17:34, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Proposed deletions
I propose removing the following people from the list of notable chemical engineers, but first I'd like to hear the opinions of other viewers.ChemE50 (talk) 14:20, 27 August 2009 (UTC) Contributions on fields such as fluid dynamics do not apply as Chem Eng.? Jesus!!! von Neumann was a great polymath that contributed to a lot of fields in physics, engineering, mathematics, etc. You are being too narrow minded. --Crio de la Paz (talk) 07:11, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Garry Betty. He earned a chemical engineering degree, but his Wikipedia biography indicates that worked primarily in designing the original personal computer.
 * Frank Capra. He earned a chemical engineering degree in Caltech, but his biography does not indicate that he ever practiced as a chemical engineer.
 * Kevin Greening. He earned a chemical engineering degree, but his biography does not indicate that he ever practiced as a chemical engineer.
 * Pat Kenney. He earned chemical engineering degrees and worked briefly as an engineer, but his biography indicates he is notable only for his career in television.
 * Dolph Lundgren. He earned a chemical engineering degree, but his biography indicates that he never really practiced as a chemical engineer, and is notable only for his career in movies.
 * John von Neumann. He is noted for his work in mathematics and physics, and certainly should be listed as a notable in those fields. His Wikipedia biography does not indicate a direct link to chemical engineering.


 * You could put them at the bottom of the page as is done with List of chemists. Von Neumann qualified in chemical engineering at ETH Zurich.Chemical Engineer (talk) 14:39, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your input. I like the idea of separately listing those who became notable for work in other fields. Also, I didn't know that von Neumann had actually studied chemical engineering.ChemE50 (talk) 15:53, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

I quote from the Wikipedia's page:

"Von Neumann made fundamental contributions in exploration of problems in numerical hydrodynamics. For example, with R. D. Richtmyer he developed an algorithm defining artificial viscosity that improved the understanding of shock waves. It is possible that we would not understand much of astrophysics, and might not have highly developed jet and rocket engines without the work of von Neumann.

A problem was that when computers solved hydrodynamic or aerodynamic problems, they tried to put too many computational grid points at regions of sharp discontinuity (shock waves). The mathematics of artificial viscosity smoothed the shock transition without sacrificing basic physics.

Other well known contributions to fluid dynamics included the classic flow solution to blast waves[70], and the co-discovery of the ZND detonation model of explosives.[71]"

"He simultaneously earned a diploma in chemical engineering from the ETH Zurich in Switzerland[1]"

You guys have people whose main achievements are running a company and here you have a fellow that developed concepts in fluid dynamics and the behavior of explosions (ZND Model)... Who is more of a ChemEng to you? I do think you must be out of your mind to think Von Neuman less of a Chem Eng than some of the CEO types you people include as Chem Eng's ... --Crio de la Paz (talk) 04:45, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Don't add to list
Suggestions and bios should not be put in the list. If the person is notable, create a wiki article. If there is a wiki article, by all means add them.Chemical Engineer (talk) 16:55, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Suggestions
Please put suggestions here, not on the page. Remove them once there is an article and they can be added.

Maria das Graças Foster Current CEO of Petrobras. First woman to lead an oil company.

Lawrence B. Evans CEO of Rive Technology, Inc. Contributed significantly to commercial development of ASPEN process simulation technology. Elected to National Academy of Engineering in 2001), “For leadership in the development and application of integrated systems for modeling, simulation, and optimization of industrial chemical processes”.The AIChE Lawrence B. Evans Award in Chemical Engineering Practice is named for him.Rive Technology, Inc.

Merrill R. Fenske (1904 – 1971) Professor of chemical engineering. Developed the Fenske equation, to calculate the minimum reflux needed to separate two binary components by continuous distillation. Pennsylvania State University

Rafiqul Gani Professor of chemical engineering at DTU. Director and co-founder of http://www.capec.kt.dtu.dk. Editor-in-chief of [Computers & Chemical Engineering journal|http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/349/description] DTU

Karl Hachmuth Noted for his research into distillation systems; credited with promoting the concept of forming an industry cooperative organization to research behavior of distillation systems. This led to formation of Fractionation Research Inc. Phillips Petroleum Company

Donald Q. Kern Chemical engineering professor at Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western University). Author of Process Heat Transfer, a major reference for designers of heat transfer equipment. Namesake of the AIChE Donald Q. Kern award. Case Western University

Henry Z. Kister Author of books and articles on distillation. Cited by Chemical Engineering magazine for personal achievement in chemical engineering. C. F. Braun (now KBR (Company)), Fluor Corp

Riki Kobayashi Professor emeritus of chemical engineering. Notable for research in phase equilibria and physical properties related to natural gas processing. Elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1995, “... for advances in the knowledge and measurement of the thermodynamic and transport properties of natural gas liquids and gas hydrates”. Rice University

John J. McKetta Professor emeritus of chemical engineering at University of Texas. Editor of “Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design.” Emeritus member of the National Academy of Engineering. Elected 1970 for, "...Enlightening experiments on fluid behavior and the director of technical publications." University of Texas

Ding-Yu Peng Co-discoverer of the Peng-Robinson equation of state. Received 2006 Donald L. Katz Award from Gas Processors Association for accomplishments in gas processing research. University of Saskatchewan

John E. Swearingen (1918 - 2007) Graduated with B. S. in chemical engineering from U. of South Carolina and an M. S. from Carnegie Mellon University. He joined Standard Oil Company of Indiana as a research engineer. In 1960, became CEO of Amoco Corporation

Frank M. Tiller (1917 - 2006) M. D. Anderson Distinguished Professor at University of Houston. Noted for research in solid-liquid separation and a founder of the American Filtration and Separation Society.University of Houston

Haldor Topsoe Founder of Haldor Topsoe Co. Awarded Winthrop-Sears Medal for 2008 by the Chemists' Club of New York.

A. J. V. Underwood Developed a correlation to estimate the minimum reflux required to produce a specific concentration of a feed component in the distillate from a specified concentration in the feed. The Underwood equation is also known as the Underwood-Fenske equation. University College of London

F. A. Zenz Received award from AIChE in 1985 for outstanding chemical engineering contributions. Has published extensively on the topic of fluidized particles, including fluidized beds and pneumatic conveying.

Fictional chemical engineers
The idea of a list of chemical engineers in fiction is great!


 * Reign of Fire is a 2002 film where a chemical engineer is cited by one of main character but I do not know the name.


 * There is a French film where the main character is a chemical engineer maybe someone has watched this film. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.54.247.58 (talk) 19:47, 10 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Joseph Fayed, a terrorist who was a chemical engineer in 24, season 4 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jainsworth16 (talk • contribs) 11:27, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Surprised you left off The Great Escape - Steve McQueens character, the Cooler King, is a chemical engineer — Preceding unsigned comment added by SeriyaDL (talk • contribs) 08:19, 27 September 2014 (UTC)
 * He is in the list, if you read it.Chemical Engineer (talk) 18:02, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

See Chemical Engineers in Movies. Chemical Engineer (talk) 18:07, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Avoid "Current"
Saying someone currently has a position will obviously be wrong sooner or later. An encyclopedia should look to the long term, and it is best to write it that way in the beginning. Presumably the fact that they held the position at some time is sufficient. Chemical Engineer (talk) 10:23, 8 October 2018 (UTC)