Dirk Willem van Krevelen

Dirk Willem van Krevelen
Born (1914-11-08)8 November 1914
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died 27 October 2001(2001-10-27) (aged 86)
Arnhem, Netherlands
Alma mater Delft University of Technology

Dirk Willem van Krevelen (8 November 1914, Rotterdam – 27 October 2001, Arnhem) was a prominent Dutch chemical engineer, coal and polymer scientist. He successfully combined an industrial career, managing a research division at DSM, and an academic career, as Professor of Delft Technical College. His contributions span a wide range of research fields, and his name is linked to the van Krevelen–Hoftyzer diagram for chemical gas absorption, the Mars–van Krevelen mechanism for catalytic oxidation reactions, the van Krevelen–Chermin method to estimate the free energy of organic compounds, the van Krevelen diagram that is used in coal and coal processes, the van Krevelen method to calculate additive properties of polymers, and the van Krevelen–Hoftyzer relationship on the viscosity of polymer fluids.[1]

He is the author of numerous scientific publications and several classic monographs, amongst which are Coal: Typology, Chemistry, Physics, Constitution and Properties of Polymers: Correlations with Chemical Structure.

Early Life

Dirk van Krevelen was born in Rotterdam to the family of bookkeeper Dirk Willem van Krevelen Sr and Huberta van Krevelen (née Regoort).

Education

In 1927 - 1933 he studied at Marnix Gymnasium in Rotterdam.[1] In 1933 he was enrolled at Leiden University and studied chemistry under Anton Eduard van Arkel. There he received his "kandidaats" (bachelor) degree in 1935 and "doctoraal" (masters) degree in 1938.[1] In parallel, van Krevelen also did his minor in chemical technology under Professor Hein Waterman at Delft Technical College.[1]

Career

At the time when Dirk van Krevelen worked with Professor Waterman, Mr Waterman was a scientific advisor to Royal Dutch Shell, who funded the employment of three private assistants that performed fundamental research on oil products and processes.[1] As of 1937, van Krevelen was employed as one of these assistants to Professor Waterman, and worked on three topics: the chemical thermodynamics of oil hydrocarbons, the polymerization of ethylene, as part of attempts to improve the anti-knock properties of gasoline, and the induced pyrolysis of methane. The latter project became the topic of his doctorate (1939).[1]

When, at the start of World War II Shell stopped employing new scientists, soon Professor Waterman, who was a Jew, was forced to retire from Shell. Yet he managed to help Dirk van Krevelen to obtain a research position in the newly created Central Laboratory of the Dutch State Mines (DSM) starting from 1940. The Central Laboratory was headed by Gerrit Berkhoff. van Krevelen began his research activities in DSM’s physical chemistry department. In 1943, van Krevelen became a department manager, as head of the newly created research department on chemical engineering. In 1948, he was promoted to the position of research leader of the Central Laboratory of DSM, a position where he was responsible for directing the research activities. In 1955, van Krevelen became head of the Central Laboratory.[1]

In 1959, van Krevelen left DSM and joined the Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU; General Rayon Union), a polymer company. van Krevelen became member of the board of directors of AKU with the special task of supervising the research and development activities of the company.[1]

In 1969, AKU merged with the Koninklijke Zout Organon (KZO) in 1969 to become AKZO. van Krevelen became president of AKZO Research and Engineering, until he retired from AKZO in 1976.[1]

Contributions

In 1951, van Krevelen was one of the founding editors of the journal Chemical Engineering Science. van Krevelen took also part in the organization of the 1st European Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering which was held in Amsterdam in 1957.

Private Life

In July 1939 Dirk van Krevelen married Frieda Kreisel. They had three sons and one daughter.[1]

Death

Dirk Willem van Krevelen died on 27 October 2001 in Arnhem.

Selected Works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "van Krevelen, Dirk Willem". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.