The John Bridgwater Symposium: “Shaping the Future of Chemical Engineering”
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Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 4135 – 4137 www.elsevier.com/locate/ces Editorial The John Bridgwater Symposium: “Shaping the Future of Chemical Engineering” Available online 28 February 2006 The retirement of Professor John Bridgwater as the Univer- sity of Cambridge’s Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering was marked by a special symposium held in his honour in the Department of Chemical Engineering on 30 September and 1 October 2004. The occasion brought together some of the lead- ing Chemical Engineers throughout the world. John Bridgwater has always been interested in the ‘big picture’ and this is re- flected, for example, in his enthusiastic and strong editorship of Chemical Engineering Science and his presidency of the Insti- tution of Chemical Engineers. As a consequence of this broad interest he has developed extensive and diverse connections throughout the world, and it was from this pool of academic colleagues and friends that a select group of people were in- vited to give contributions to honour John’s retirement. Each speaker found their own ways to articulate their appre- ciation of John and through this it was possible to see a vision of how they feel the subject of Chemical Engineering as a whole will develop in the future. The overall impression created by the group of speakers was that there is much work still to be done. In John’s academic lifetime, attention by Chemical Engineers has been mainly focused on the macro and micro length scales. In general, molecular length scales have been left to Chemists and Physicists and global length scales to Earth Scientists. It is now clear that Chemical Engineers of the future will need to think at multiple length scale levels. Future Chemical Engi- neers will be working at global, macro, meso, micro, nano and atomic scales. In addition, future Chemical Engineers will have to be continually calculating the ‘mass balance of life’, assess- ing whether what they are doing, or proposing to do, is glob- ally sustainable. Hopefully, work carried out by people such as John has helped, provided the tools to tackle these difficult and challenging problems facing the future. Most of the presentations made at the Symposium have been written up as formal papers that now appear in this special edi- tion of Chemical Engineering Science, dedicated to the career of Professor John Bridgwater. The Career of John Bridgwater John Bridgwater’s retirement from the Shell Professorship in September 2004 was his third time of ‘leaving’ the Department 0009-2509/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2006.02.029 at Cambridge and the Department had changed markedly since he first entered it in 1957, to be taught by Professors Fox and Danckwerts before leaving to study at Princeton University and spend time in professional practice with Courtaulds Limited in Coventry. John was persuaded by Danckwerts to join the staff as a Demonstrator (a title that was still on the University’s books until not long ago). He forged ahead working on absorption until, like several others in the Department under Danckwerts, he took up the challenge of particle technology, and thus started the detailed and insight-filled work on percolation, attrition, mixing and powder mechanics that have marked his career. He then went on a prolonged walkabout, via the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham (where he stayed long enough to find himself Dean of Engineering), before returning to Cambridge and the Shell Professorship vacated by John Davidson in 1993. John received major awards including a Doctorate of Science of the University of Cambridge (Sc.D., 1986) and Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng., 1987). His period as Head of Department at Cambridge (1993–1998) was marked by some of the most significant changes in the Department’s history. The University was persuaded to in- crease the funds available to the Department from the Shell Endowment Fund, resulting in a second endowed chair, while the number of academic staff grew to twenty plus, maintaining the Department’s position as a significant player in the UK Chemical Engineering scene. The undergraduate course was restructured, extended and completely overhauled, and now features biotechnology and sustainability as compulsory topics. Physically, the fabric expanded markedly as laboratories were converted to make more efficient use of space or even moved to West Cambridge: extra offices were added to accommodate the growing number of research students: even the ‘tea room’ and entrance were upgraded. Spiritually, the emphasis on Chemical Engineering Science and excellence remains in the Department but is now expressed in different forms: the discipline now embraces techniques hardly heard of when John first entered the Department (semi- conducting lasers, 1962; magnetic resonance imaging, 1971; widespread use of personal computers, 1977; the ability to
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Transcript of The John Bridgwater Symposium: “Shaping the Future of Chemical Engineering”
Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 4135–4137www.elsevier.com/locate/ces
Editorial
The John Bridgwater Symposium: “Shaping the Future ofChemical Engineering”
Available online 28 February 2006
The retirement of Professor John Bridgwater as the Univer-sity of Cambridge’s Shell Professor of Chemical Engineeringwas marked by a special symposium held in his honour in theDepartment of Chemical Engineering on 30 September and 1October 2004. The occasion brought together some of the lead-ing Chemical Engineers throughout the world. John Bridgwaterhas always been interested in the ‘big picture’ and this is re-flected, for example, in his enthusiastic and strong editorship ofChemical Engineering Science and his presidency of the Insti-tution of Chemical Engineers. As a consequence of this broadinterest he has developed extensive and diverse connectionsthroughout the world, and it was from this pool of academiccolleagues and friends that a select group of people were in-vited to give contributions to honour John’s retirement.
Each speaker found their own ways to articulate their appre-ciation of John and through this it was possible to see a vision ofhow they feel the subject of Chemical Engineering as a wholewill develop in the future. The overall impression created by thegroup of speakers was that there is much work still to be done.In John’s academic lifetime, attention by Chemical Engineershas been mainly focused on the macro and micro length scales.In general, molecular length scales have been left to Chemistsand Physicists and global length scales to Earth Scientists. Itis now clear that Chemical Engineers of the future will needto think at multiple length scale levels. Future Chemical Engi-neers will be working at global, macro, meso, micro, nano andatomic scales. In addition, future Chemical Engineers will haveto be continually calculating the ‘mass balance of life’, assess-ing whether what they are doing, or proposing to do, is glob-ally sustainable. Hopefully, work carried out by people such asJohn has helped, provided the tools to tackle these difficult andchallenging problems facing the future.
Most of the presentations made at the Symposium have beenwritten up as formal papers that now appear in this special edi-tion of Chemical Engineering Science, dedicated to the careerof Professor John Bridgwater.
The Career of John BridgwaterJohn Bridgwater’s retirement from the Shell Professorship in
September 2004 was his third time of ‘leaving’ the Department
0009-2509/$ - see front matter � 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.ces.2006.02.029
at Cambridge and the Department had changed markedly sincehe first entered it in 1957, to be taught by Professors Fox andDanckwerts before leaving to study at Princeton University andspend time in professional practice with Courtaulds Limited inCoventry. John was persuaded by Danckwerts to join the staff asa Demonstrator (a title that was still on the University’s booksuntil not long ago). He forged ahead working on absorptionuntil, like several others in the Department under Danckwerts,he took up the challenge of particle technology, and thus startedthe detailed and insight-filled work on percolation, attrition,mixing and powder mechanics that have marked his career. Hethen went on a prolonged walkabout, via the Universities ofOxford and Birmingham (where he stayed long enough to findhimself Dean of Engineering), before returning to Cambridgeand the Shell Professorship vacated by John Davidson in 1993.John received major awards including a Doctorate of Scienceof the University of Cambridge (Sc.D., 1986) and Fellowshipof the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng., 1987).
His period as Head of Department at Cambridge (1993–1998)was marked by some of the most significant changes in theDepartment’s history. The University was persuaded to in-crease the funds available to the Department from the ShellEndowment Fund, resulting in a second endowed chair, whilethe number of academic staff grew to twenty plus, maintainingthe Department’s position as a significant player in the UKChemical Engineering scene. The undergraduate course wasrestructured, extended and completely overhauled, and nowfeatures biotechnology and sustainability as compulsory topics.Physically, the fabric expanded markedly as laboratories wereconverted to make more efficient use of space or even movedto West Cambridge: extra offices were added to accommodatethe growing number of research students: even the ‘tea room’and entrance were upgraded.
Spiritually, the emphasis on Chemical Engineering Scienceand excellence remains in the Department but is now expressedin different forms: the discipline now embraces techniqueshardly heard of when John first entered the Department (semi-conducting lasers, 1962; magnetic resonance imaging, 1971;widespread use of personal computers, 1977; the ability to
4136 H. Chase / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 4135–4137
express genes within micro-organisms, 1978). John understoodthe need to evolve in order to stay ahead and expressed it inhis role within Chemical Engineering Science, and as Presi-dent of the IChem E leading to the signing of the Melbournecommuniqué on sustainability.
John continues to publish and conduct research, includingcollaborations with Australia, which will require him to visitthere during the UK winter! Most importantly, he moves on toenjoy, with Diane, a less frantic schedule, and we wish themevery happiness in his ‘retirement’.
I would like to acknowledge with much gratitude themajor contributions to the above text made by our col-leagues in the Department, Professor Malcolm Mackley andDr. Ian Wilson.
John Bridgwater captured at the end of the last undergradu-ate lecture he delivered in Cambridge in 2004 (Photograph byRichard West)
The speakers at the John Bridgwater Symposium (Photo-graph by Vanessa Blake)
Key to the speakers
1. Professor John Bridgwater.2. Professor Ed Cussler, Department of Chemical Engineer-
ing, University of Minnesota.3. Dr. Robin Batterham, Australian Academy of Science,
Canberra.4. Dr. Ramesh Mashelkar, Head of CSIR, the Council of
Science and Industrial Research, New Delhi.5. Professor Ko Higashitani, Department of Chemical Engi-
neering, Kyoto University, Katsura.
H. Chase / Chemical Engineering Science 61 (2006) 4135–4137 4137
6. Professor Wim van Swaaij, Department of Chemical Tech-nology, University of Twente.
7. Dr. Bruno Laurent, Institute for Manufacturing, Departmentof Engineering, University of Cambridge.
8. Professor Julio M Ottino, Department of Chemical andBiological Engineering, Northwestern University.
9. Professor Jacob Masliyah, Chemical & Materials Engineer-ing, University of Alberta.
10. Professor Alexis Bell, Department of Chemical Engineer-ing, University of California.
11. Professor Mike Hounslow, Department of Chemical andProcess Engineering, University of Sheffield.
12. Professor Roland Clift Centre for Environmental Strategy,University of Surrey.
13. Professor Mojtaba Ghadiri, Department of ChemicalEngineering, University of Leeds.
14. Dr. Ian Wilson, Department of Chemical Engineering,University of Cambridge.
Howard ChaseDepartment of Chemical Engineering,
University of Cambridge, New Museums Site,Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3RA, UK
E-mail address: [email protected]
