RefNo | EC/1976/02 |
Previous numbers | Cert XX, 2; A00132 |
Level | Item |
Title | Andrew, Sydney Percy Smith: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
Date | 1972 |
Description | Citation typed |
Citation | S.P.S. Andrew is distinguished for his ability to assemble multidisciplinary thinking and apply it to the simplification of sophisticated engineering and chemical concepts, so as to achieve commercial success in areas as diverse as engineering planning theory and catalytic chemistry. As an acknowledged expert on complex gas/liquid mass transfer mechanisms, he has worked extensively on scale-up methods from laboratory data to plant design, originating in 1952 the concept of 'surface rejuvenation' and in 1956 the much used technique of measuring gas/liquid reaction rates to obtain interfacial areas. His most recent contribution (1972) is an investigation of the mode of action of anti-foaming agents. In 1954, as a maintenance engineer, he invented the now routine planning technique (independently invented later in the US) known as 'critical path scheduling'. When leader of a design group in 1960 he pioneered the use of continuously variable radiant beam theory to sizing commercial furnaces; whilst more recently, as manager of a catalyst research group, he has been creating a quantitative science of heterogeneous catalyst formulation. In the past ten years his work has been closely associated with the obtaining of three Queen's Awards for Industry. He has been External Professor in Chemical Engineering at Leeds University from 1967 to 1971. |
AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
Code | PersonName | Dates |
NA5078 | Andrew; Sydney Percy Smith (1926 - 2011) | 1926 - 2011 |