Public Orator, Cambridge University on the occasion of Julius Stratton’s honorary Sc.D., p 1010, Cambridge University Reporter, June 14, 1972. Sherwood, T. K., Editorial, Ind. Eng. Chem., Fundam., 8, 365 (1969). Sterne, L., “Tristam Shandy”, 11.31Vol. 11, p 3, 1760. Stratton, J., “Science and the Educated Man,” M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass..
Walker, W. H., Chem. Eng., 2, 1 (1905). White, A. H., “Chemical Engineering Education”, in “25 years of Chemical Engineering Progress”, S.Kirkpatrick, Ed., A.I.Ch.E., 1933.
Receiued for reuieu, July 29,1976 Accepted August 23,1976
1966.
Techno/. Rev., 78, 6 (1976).
T h e following twelve papers were contributed b y some o f Professor Sherwood’s former thesis s t u d e n t s at M.I.T. I
Thomas K. Sherwood-Recollections
from the ’Thirties
Warren L. Towle Corporate Applied Research Group, Globe-Union lnc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 5320 I
Tom Sherwood was my favorite professor. After forty years many memories from my early association with him are still vivid. Since I am sure others were equally drawn to him, it is a pleasure to speak for many as I offer the following. I first met Professor Sherwood at the beginning of my senior year in 1933 when I was scouting around for a thesis subject. This was probably one of the luckiest choices I ever made. It led to an association with him that continued until I finished graduate work four years later. I remember vividly when I first got to call him by his first name. This was a privilege not accorded to undegraduates, at least not in those days. During the first graduate year while I was a t one of the Practice School stations we exchanged letters regarding plans for my continuing thesis work. His first letter was signed quite formally, but the second was signed “Tom” and gave me a tremendous thrill. During the following year I shared his office as his assistant. It is from that period that most of the following reminiscences are drawn. Tom was far more than a superbly competent engineer. I t was his human qualities that made him so beloved by those around him, and which added so much to his effectiveness as a teacher. His characteristic reactions to his students included praise, encouragement and gentle understanding, overlaid with a delightful sense of humor that was never far below the surface. If you had done something he thought well of, he would proudly tell someone else in your presence, thus making it an even more memorable compliment. If you had done something less than your best, he might tell you (alone) about that too, but in such a way that you knew he was still on your side. And he had a knack of getting such a message across in a kidding way that made you squirm and laugh at the same time. I remember that for a while I tutored a couple of our students. Somehow I must have been too easygoing about collecting my fee from them. A few weeks passed without my being paid. Tom heard about it and asked me how come? The reasons they had given me seemed less than convincing to him. So he launched a campaign to try to kid me into taking a firmer, more business-like stance toward them. After each session he would ask me what the excuse was this time. I would
cringe inwardly and tell him, knowing that he would find the answer uproariously funny. I had to admit that some of them were beginning to sound that way. I finally got my money, plus a gratuitous lesson from Tom on sticking up for my rights. He enjoyed being kidded himself, too. He was a pipe smoker, and had an assortment of pipes of various shapes and dimensions. The biggest ones were his favorites. Or a t least it looked that way, we told him, whenever he ran out of tobacco and had to borrow some. “Here comes Tom with that big pipe. You know, the one he uses to borrow tobacco with. Hide your pouches!” One day he gave me one of my early lessons in the value of accenting the positive. We were both in the office, working, when an elderly friend of his came in. Tom apparently hadn’t seen him for a number of years. As they started to reminisce, Tom looked over and said perhaps their talking might bother me. Not getting the point, I answered assuring him that it didn’t bother me at all. Whereupon Tom smiled and said well, why didn’t I come back in a few minutes. At that, I did get the point and excused myself. And I recognized then how Tom had saved both himself and me (and his visitor) the embarrassment of asking me to leave, by reversing the emphasis to the positive side and asking me to return. A small but indelible lesson in graciousness! Speaking of emphasizing the positive, I realize that everything I’ve said here has so far been on the positive side. But Tom was human enough to err once in a while. The midthirties were back in the days when sailing on the Charles River Basin had just become a popular pastime for MIT men. Every so often there were races. Tom told me one day he had signed up to race with one of the groups. He admitted he had had no racing experience. However, he said, with the uncertainty of the winds, etc., the probabilities were that there should be a significant spread in effective speeds from one craft to the next. On that basis he figured at least he shouldn’t finish last. Well, it was a great theory, but he finished last anyway-decisively, Tom had a keen appreciation of the value of other peoples’ ideas. I remember him telling me one time about having had a discussion with Ed Gilliland on the subject of gravity. “Ed Ind. Eng. Chern., Fundarn., Vol. 16, No. 1, 1977
5
tells me the problem in understanding gravity is the fact that we have no way of altering it. Until we find some way -of changing it a t will we won’t be able to find out what makes it tick.” He was quoting Ed-one of his own former students-as one refers to an authority. Another example came a t the conclusion of my thesis work. He invited me to sit down with him and the man who had chosen to carry on with further
work in that area. He wanted my thoughts on what should be done from there on. My first experience in consulting! One of Tom’s greatest joys in life was to laugh. He always appreciated a good joke, and relished small pleasantries. This and his genuine thoughtfulness toward those around him created beautiful memories which the passage of forty years has not dimmed.
The Role of Chemical Engineers in New Energy Source Development F. A. L. Holloway Exxon Corporation, New York, New York 10020
I t was the influence of Tom Sherwood and other great teachers that helped to create the willingness and ability of chemical engineers to involve themselves in new fields and new kinds of technology. As Tom said, “Perhaps chemical engineering would not have developed as it has if mechanical engineers had studied physical chemistry.” Another statement was made in the mid-50’s by Harry Drickamer, Professor of Chemical Engineering a t the University of Illinois, “Chemical engineering has become the profession of those who get things done.” For these reasons, I believe our profession is uniquely qualified to join with other engineers, scientists, environmentalists, and social scientists in developing new energy sources in this country. Because chemical engineers have extensive training in chemistry, mathematics, and a variety of engineering areas, they are able to look a t problems in the broadest context and apply this comprehensive range of disciplines to solve them. This can be seen in the important contributions made by chemical engineers in many unexpected industrial areasoffshore drilling for oil and gas, for example, and helping to develop technology for the nuclear industry when it was in its infancy. I believe that the tendency of chemical engineers to be there when new ground is broken assures them of a significant role in the development of new energy sources. Much of the technology that we will see in the future will be new, and much of the existing technology is as yet incompletely defined. This presents a challenge that I believe will be welcomed by chemical engineers. As the nation attempts to solve the problems of energy supply and achieve a position of relative independence, several factors are clear. First, the oil industry is going to be very busy developing new sources of oil and natural gas. Since most of the easily accessible oil has already been found in this country, the search for new supplies will continue to take us into remote and difficult environments, such as the outer continental shelf and the Arctic. Second, the nation will have to conserve its existing supplies as much as possible, eliminating waste and developing more energy-efficient machines. Third, we will have to develop alternate sources of energy, such as coal, nuclear, synthetics from coal and shale as well as such sources as solar electric power and nuclear fusion. This will create a tremendous demand for new research and de6
Ind. Eng. Chem., Fundam., Vol. 16, No. 1, 1977
velopment capabilities. I t will also require construction and maintenance of major new energy producing facilities. Fourth, we will need to achieve these advances in energy supplies in an environmentally acceptable fashion. By 1990, the U S . will need: several hundred thousand new oil and gas wells; dozens of new oil refineries or their equivalent in expanded facilities; a score of new plants for oil shale and for coal gasification and liquefaction; hundreds of new nuclear plants; over a hundred new coal mines, including a large number of small deep mines as well as high-capacity surface mines. To take on a job of this magnitude, the energy industry will need a growing number of engineers. Conservation efforts will also create a demand for engineers who can produce energyefficient systems and products. The various activities of the government represent a growing field for chemical engineers. The Energy Research and Development Administration, the National Laboratories, regulatory agencies and the committees of Congress all have increasing needs for them. Chemical engineering skills will be in great demand in broad areas such as these: (1)Recovery of oil from tar sands and shale-there is a broad spectrum of challenges in this area going all the way from improvements in mining and materials’ handling techniques to radically different processes for maximizing yields and to new solutions for potential ecological problems. (2) Tertiary recovery of oil-chemical engineers will develop chemically enhanced flooding systems that can release and produce oil economically even under the stringent conditions of temperature and salinity that occur in producing formations. (3) Improved techniques for producing and using coal-there are chemical engineering opportunities here that range from mining techniques and materials handling to enclosed life-support systems for underground miners and revegetation for surface-mined areas. Improvements are needed in slurry pipelines to transport coal. Chemical engineers have an opportunity to help find new ways to improve the combustion of coal, reduce pollutants and fly ash a t coal-fired power plants, and convert coal into gas and liquid fuels. Beyond fossil fuels, we expect to see an increasing amount of electric power generated by nuclear energy. In this field, too, there will be important roles for the chemical engineer to fill. We need better techniques to find more of the richer ores as well as effective and economical chemical engineering methods to extract uranium from lean ores by in situ leaching. We can also use improved enrichment methods to concentrate the
