This is a list of notable chemical engineers, people who studied or practiced chemical engineering. The main list is those who achieved status in chemical engineering or a closely related field such as management or science. At the foot of the page is a list of people with chemical engineering qualifications who are notable for other reasons, such as actors, sportspeople and authors. These are people sufficiently notable to have an article in Wikipedia. Further articles on chemical engineers would be welcome. See the talk page for suggestions of people who should be added to the encyclopedia (and then to this list).
| Name | width=500 | Known for! | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|
A | |||
| Rakesh Agrawal | National Medal of Technology and Innovation for Air separation. | Air Products and now at Purdue University | |
| Mohammed Al Mady | Executive president of SABIC. | SABIC | |
| Sara Akbar | Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Energy and the Kuwaiti oil fires. | Kuwait University | |
| Mukesh Ambani (born 1957) | Chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries | Reliance Industries | |
| Neal Amundson (1916–2011) | Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Minnesota from 1949 to 1977. Professor, chemical engineering and mathematics 1978–2011, and provost (1987–1989) at University of Houston. | University of Minnesota and University of Houston | |
| C. Anandharamakrishnan (born 1973) | Principal Scientist and Pioneer in Engineered human stomach and small intestinal system, Food Nanotechnology, Food 3D printing | Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India | |
| Leonid Andrussow (1896–1988) | Developed process to make hydrogen cyanide from ammonia and methane | IG Farben (now BASF) | |
| Rutherford Aris (1929–2005) | Regents Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota (1958–2005). Pioneered the use of computers to solve optimization problems in kinetics and catalysis. Prolific publication record (see Rutherford Aris bibliography). | University of Minnesota | |
| Frances Arnold (born 1956) | Pioneer of directed evolution of proteins, the process of using random mutations to optimize protein function. Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2018 | ||
B | |||
| Robin Batterham (born 1941) | Former Chief Scientist of Australia (1999–2006) Chief Scientist of CSIRO Division of Mineral Engineering | Office of the Chief Scientist (Australia) | |
| Jay Bailey (1944–2001) | Pioneer in metabolic engineering | California Institute of Technology (1980–1992), ETH Zurich (1992–2001) | |
| Frank S. Bates (born 1954) | Leader in polymer science and block copolymers | University of Minnesota | |
| Henry Bessemer (1813–1898) | Invented Bessemer process for manufacturing steel | Independent inventor | |
| Gordon Beveridge (1933–1999) | Former president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University of Belfast | Queen's University of Belfast | |
| Lois Aileen Bey (born 1929) | First woman to graduate in chemical engineering from IIT | Illinois Institute of Technology | |
| Samuel Bodman (1938–2018) | United States Secretary of Energy (2005–2009) | US Government | |
| Carl Bosch (1874–1940) | From 1908 until 1913 developed the Haber-Bosch process together with Fritz Haber. His other notable work was for the introduction of high-pressure chemistry. Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1931 | BASF and IG Farben | |
| Henry T. Brown (1932–2020) | First African American director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (1983) | Polaroid Corporation (before: Esso Research & Engineering Company and ER Squibb & Sons) | |
| Jomar Brun (1904–1993) | Designer of the world's first industrial heavy water plant, and helped in its sabotage during World War II | Norwegian Institute of Technology | |
C | |||
| John G. Collier (1935–1995) | Two-phase flow and nuclear power expert, head of United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and Central Electricity Generating Board | United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority | |
| John Coulson (1910–1990) | Co-author of what became the standard UK textbook set; Coulson & Richardson's Chemical Engineering | Newcastle University, UK | |
D | |||
| Donald A. Dahlstrom (1920–2005) | Inventor of the Hydrocyclone and related correlations, 1943. Elected to National Academy of Engineering in 1975 for, "Contributions to liquid-solids separation processes in mineral recovery and waste disposal"". | University of Utah | |
| Zara Salim Davidson (born 1973) | Raja Puan Besar of Perak. Heads petroleum and petrochemical consulting firm in Malaysia. | ||
| George E. Davis (1850–1907) | Regarded as the 'founding father' of Chemical Engineering | University of Manchester | |
| Nguyet Anh Duong (born 1960) | is a Vietnamese-American, she assisted in creating a new weapon called the Thermobaric weapon in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to assault tunnels and caves being used as hideouts by the Taliban in Afghanistan. | United States Department of Defense | |
| John Drosdick (born 1943) | Chairman and CEO of Sunoco | Sunoco | |
F | |||
| James R. Fair (1920–2010) | Notable authority on process design, equipment design and separations | Monsanto Company, University of Texas | |
| Richard Felder (born 1939) | Multiple award-winning engineering educator | North Carolina State University | |
| Ian Fells | Energy expert and popular science broadcaster | Newcastle University, UK | |
| Maria das Graças Foster (born 1953) | CEO of Petrobras. First woman to head a major oil-and-gas company | Petrobras, Brazil | |
| Arthur Fry (born 1931) | Inventor of Post-it note | 3M, USA | |
G | |||
| G. D. Yadav (born 1952) | Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Scientist | Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India | |
| Clifton C. Garvin (1921–2016) | Chairman and CEO | Exxon | |
| Eugenio Garza Lagüera (1923–2008) | Chairman and CEO | FEMSA | |
| Namesake of Klincewicz method to predict critical values of pure components | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||
| Edwin R. Gilliland (1909–1963) | Namesake of the Gilliland correlation used in designing distillation columns | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Roberto Goizueta (1931–1997) | Former chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola | |
| Alexander Goldberg (1906–1985) | President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | |
| Bill Gore (1912–1986) | W. L. Gore & Associates, DuPont | ||
| Robert W. Gore (1937–2020) | The inventor of Gore-Tex | W. L. Gore & Associates | |
| Praveen Kumar Gorakavi (born 1989) | well recognised as Polymath and former child prodigy. Multi award winner | Partner at The Phi Factory[1] | |
| Andrew Grove (1936–2016) | former chairman and CEO | Intel | |
| Pierre Gy (1924–2015) | developed theory of sampling of particulate materials for analysis | Industrial consultant | |
H | |||
| Fritz Haber (1868–1934) | Received Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1918 for the fixation of nitrogen from the air, the Haber process; also developed chemical warfare agents for the German government during World War I. Received the Rumford Medal in 1932 for, "... the outstanding importance of his work in physical chemistry, especially in the application of thermodynamics to chemical reactions". | Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | |
| Vladimir Haensel (1914–2002) | Inventor of the "Platforming" (Platinum Reforming) process, which led to the production of low cost high octane gasoline, and contributed to development of catalytic converters for automobiles. | University of Massachusetts Amherst | |
| Judith Hackitt (born 1954) | Former chair of UK Health & Safety Executive and former president of Institution of Chemical Engineers. | Health & Safety Executive | |
| Douglas Patrick Harrison | Carried out research for DOE Vision 21 project as well research to remove CO2 from stack gas of coal-fired power generators and for production of pure Hydrogen from gasification of coal. | Louisiana State University | |
| Fred Hassan (born 1945) | CEO and chairman of Schering-Plough Corporation; former chairman and CEO for the Pharmacia Corporation | Schering-Plough | |
| Beatrice Hicks (1919–1979) | Co-founder and first president of the Society of Women Engineers | Society of Women Engineers | |
| Csaba Horváth (1930–2004) | Pioneer of modern separation science | Yale University | |
| Benjamin Hsiao (born 1958) | Stony Brook University DuPont Company Brookhaven National Laboratory | ||
I | |||
| Sheldon E. Isakoff | Former director of DuPont and former president of American Institute of Chemical Engineers | ||
| Dan Itse (born 1958) | US Politician and holder of four patents on low-emission technology | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | |
J | |||
| Lisa P. Jackson (born 1962) | Former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2009–2013) | Environmental Protection Agency | |
| Joseph J. Jacobs (1916–2004) | Founder of Jacobs Engineering Group | Jacobs Engineering Group | |
| Rakesh Jain (born 1950) | Integrated bioengineering with tumor biology and imaging gene expression and functions in vivo for drug delivery in tumors | Harvard Medical School | |
| Mae Jemison (born 1956) | Science mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavour and first black woman in space | NASA | |
K | |||
| W. W. Keeler (1908–1987) | President and CEO of Phillips Petroleum Company. Graduated in chemical engineering from University of Kansas | Phillips Petroleum Company | |
| Donald Q. Kern (d. 1971)[2] | Professional lecturer in chemical engineering 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. | D.Q. Kern Associates | |
| Trevor Kletz (1922–2013) | Author of books dealing with chemical engineering safety | Loughborough University | |
| Marius Kloppers (born 1962) | CEO of BHP | BHP | |
| Riki Kobayashi (1924–2013) | Professor of Chemical Engineering; well known for his pioneering work in phase equilibrium, physical properties and transport properties which were highly important to the development of the natural gas processing industries. | Rice University | |
| Charles Koch (born 1935) | CEO of Koch Industries | Koch Industries | |
| David Koch (3 May 1940 – 23 August 2019) | Executive vice-president of Koch Industries | Koch Industries | |
| Fred C. Koch (1900–1967) | Founder of Koch Industries | Koch Industries | |
| B. D. Kulkarni (1949–2019) | Chemical Engineer and Distinguished Scientist | National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, Maharastra, India | |
L | |||
| Robert Langer (born 1948) | Tissue Engineering and Controlled-Release Drug Delivery pioneer | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Nicolas Leblanc (1742–1806) | Inventor of the Leblanc process for making sodium carbonate from common salt | ||
| Frank Lees (1939–1999) | author and pioneer of Loss Prevention in the process industries | Loughborough University | |
| Warren K. Lewis (1882–1975) | American chemical engineering professor; played a role in defining the field of chemical engineering during its early development. Co-developer (with E. R. Gilliland) of Houdry process for petroleum refining. He is also known as the "Father of Modern Chemical Engineering" | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Bodo Linnhoff (born 1948) | Author of a 1977 thesis that formed the basis for pinch analysis, a methodology to optimize energy usage in processes. | Linnhoff March | |
| Arthur Dehon Little (1863–1935) | Consultant and co-founder, with William H. Walker, of Arthur D. Little, a major consulting firm | Arthur D. Little, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Andrew Liveris (born 1954) | Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Company. | Dow Chemical Company | |
| Inventor of nanotransfer printing; professor of engineering | Princeton University | ||
M | |||
| Ramesh Mashelkar (born 1943) | Leading architect of India's science and technology policies and current president of Global Research Alliance. Former director general of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. | CSIR India, Global Research Alliance | |
| Sheri McCoy (born 1959) | Former CEO of Avon Products. | Avon Products | |
| Victor Mills (1897–1997) | Leading the team that created the modern disposable diapers and the Pampers brand | ||
| Luis E. Miramontes (1925–2004) | Inventor of the hormone used in the first oral contraceptives | Syntex | |
| Mario Molina (1943–2020) | Co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in elucidating the threat of chlorofluorocarbon gases to the Earth's ozone layer | ||
| Jim May (1934–2023) | Chief Scientist of the Chemical Engineering section at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission in 1967 and CEO of the Australian Minerals Industry Research Association Limited (AMIRA) from 1968 to 1994. | ||
N | |||
| Dudley Maurice Newitt (1894–1980) | Scientific director of Special Operations Executive developing gadgets for spies during World War II – a real life Q (James Bond). Received Rumford Medal, in 1962 for "... his distinguished contributions to chemical engineering." | Professor at Imperial College | |
| Giulio Natta (1903–1979) | Received Nobel Prize in 1963 for his works on high polymers | Professor at Politecnico di Milano | |
O | |||
| Lars Onsager (1903–1976) | Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1968 | Yale University | |
| Adam Osborne (1939–2003) | Introduced the first-ever portable computer in 1981, the same year IBM launched the personal computer | Osborne Computer Corporation | |
| Donald Othmer (1904–1995) | Co-creator of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology | Polytechnic University of New York | |
| David J. O'Reilly (born 1947) | Chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation | Chevron Corporation | |
P | |||
| Linus Pauling (1901–1994) | Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1954, Nobel Peace Prize, 1962 | California Institute of Technology, Oregon State University | |
| Robert H. Perry (1924–1978) | Author of Handbook in 1934, now Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook | University of Oklahoma | |
| Martin Lewis Perl (1927–2014) | Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the tau lepton | ||
| Nicholas A. Peppas (born 1948) | Pioneer in drug delivery, biomaterials, hydrogels and nanobiotechnology | University of Texas at Austin | |
Q | |||
| K. B. Quinan (1878–1948) | Explosive manufacturing expert in World War I and first vice-president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers | De Beers | |
R | |||
| Sabah Randhawa (born 1954) | Academic administrator and former engineer | Western Washington University | |
| Lee Raymond (born 1938) | ExxonMobil chairman and Chief Executive Officer | ||
| Max Reis (1927–2014) | chemical engineer and President of the | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | |
| Dan Reneau (born 1940) | President of Louisiana Tech University | Louisiana Tech University | |
| George Maxwell Richards (1931–2018) | President of Trinidad & Tobago. Previously worked for Shell Trinidad Oil Co. and taught chemical engineering at University of West Indies | ||
| Jack Richardson (1920–2011) | Co-wrote the textbook which became UK standard Coulson & Richardson's Chemical Engineering | Swansea University | |
| Norbert Rillieux (1806–1894) | Inventor who is most noted for developing the process that turned sugar from a luxury to a common commodity | ||
| Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau (1911–2000) | designed the first commercial penicillin production plant | ||
S | |||
| Albert Sacco (born 1949) | US astronaut | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | |
| Robert Satcher (born 1965) | US astronaut | NASA | |
| Lanny Schmidt (1938–2020) | Surface science and detailed chemistry | University of Minnesota | |
| Man Mohan Sharma (born 1937) | Eminent Indian chemical engineering scientist and first Indian engineer to be elected as a Fellow of Royal Society, UK | Former director of Institute of Chemical Technology | |
| Waldo L. Semon (1898–1999) | Inventor who patented more than 116 inventions, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC) | BF Goodrich | |
| L. Douglas Smoot (born 1934) | Research on aerospace and rocket fuel propulsion | Brigham Young University, California Institute of Technology, Lockheed Propulsion Company, Scientific Research Society of America | |
T | |||
| Edward Teller (1908–2003) | Hungarian-born American theoretical physicist and "father of the hydrogen bomb" | University of GöttingenBohr InstituteUniversity College LondonGeorge Washington UniversityManhattan ProjectUniversity of ChicagoUC DavisUC BerkeleyLawrence LivermoreHoover Institution | |
| Gautam Thapar (born 1960) | CEO of Indian conglomerate Avantha Group | Avantha Group | |
| Martha J. B. Thomas (1926–2006) | American chemical engineer who worked on fluorescent lighting and phosphorus | Radcliffe College, Boston University, Sylvania Electric Products | |
| Zehev Tadmor (born 1937) | Technion-Israel Institute of Technology | ||
U | |||
| Lewis Urry (1927–2004) | Invention of long-lasting alkaline batteries | Eveready Battery Co | |
V | |||
W | |||
| Bill Wakeham (born 1944) | Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton (2001–2009) and president of Institution of Chemical Engineers | University of Southampton | |
| William Hultz Walker (1869–1934) | Pioneer in teaching chemical engineering. Co-authored, with W. K. Lewis and W. H. McAdams, the first American textbook of chemical engineering, Principles of Chemical Engineering, published in 1924. | ||
| Jack Welch (1935–2020) | Former chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric | General Electric | |
| David W. Wood (born 1967) | Ohio State University professor known for work on self-removing affinity tag methods | Ohio State University | |
| Nathaniel C. Wyeth (1911–1990) | Inventor of PET plastic bottles | DuPont | |
X | |||
Y | |||
| Andrew Yakuba | Former Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer | Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation | |
| Yeo Bee Yin (born 1983) | Malaysian Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change. Started her career as a field engineer in the petroleum industry | Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (Malaysia) | |
Z | |||