Chemical Engineering in the Netherlands 1935–1965

Abstract

The integral concept of chemical engineering aimed at rational design and operation of chemical processes was in the first half of this century mainly an Anglo-American affair. Since the introduction of the first chemical engineering curriculum at MIT it became the fourth large engineering discipline in the Engineering Departments of the universities on the North American continent, and also to some extent in Great Britain. Before the second world war this trend had little impact on the universities on the continent of Europe. The first to be influenced were rather the more practice-oriented technical colleges with their relatively short curricula aimed at supporting functions in industry. At the science oriented academic level the need for the special training of chemical engineers was not felt, and for instance in Germany with its important chemical industry (mainly I.G. Farben), it was held that chemists and mechanical engineers together could cope with the requirements of this branch of industrial activity — which they actually did with great success.