Edwin Niblock Lightfoot, Jr. (September 25, 1925 – October 2, 2017) was an American

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

and Hilldale Professor Emeritus in the department of chemical and biological engineering at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. He is known for his research in

transport phenomena In engineering, physics, and chemistry, the study of transport phenomena concerns the exchange of mass, energy, charge, momentum and angular momentum between observed and studied systems. While it draws from fields as diverse as continuum mec ...

, including biological mass-transfer processes, mass-transport reaction modeling, and separations processes. He, along with

R. Byron Bird Robert Byron Bird (February 5, 1924 – November 13, 2020) was an American chemical engineer and professor emeritus in the department of chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was known for his research in transport pheno ...

and Warren E. Stewart, co-authored the classic textbook ''

Transport Phenomena In engineering, physics, and chemistry, the study of transport phenomena concerns the exchange of mass, energy, charge, momentum and angular momentum between observed and studied systems. While it draws from fields as diverse as continuum mec ...

''. In 1974 Lightfoot wrote ''Transport Phenomena and Living Systems: Biomedical Aspects of Momentum and Mass Transport''. He was the recipient of the 2004

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral science, behavior ...

in Engineering Sciences.

Education and career

Lightfoot received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1947 and 1950. After graduation he worked as a junior engineer at General Foods in Hoboken, New Jersey. His Ph.D. thesis (''Gasification of Coke)'' was supported by the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company. After graduate school he worked for Pfizer & Co in Brooklyn where he received US Patent US2787578 A for his development of a commercial process for recovering and purifying vitamin B12. He began his teaching career at the

in 1953. There he co-authored ''

'' with his colleagues R. Byron Bird and Warren E. Stewart. This first edition of this book was in print for 41 years and was translated into five languages. A second edition followed in 2001. In 1974, Lightfoot wrote ''Transport Phenomena and Living Systems: Biomedical Aspects of Momentum and Mass Transport''. Lightfoot was the Hilldale Professor of Chemical Engineering, and upon his retirement in 1996, Hilldale Professor Emeritus in the department of chemical and biological engineering, as the department was renamed. His research interests were in the development of improved separation processes and controlling the dynamics of biological systems. In later life, he turned his attention to ways of developing scientifically informed intuition in bioengineers (in particular quantum biology). Lightfoot was an inventor, holding US patents US2996430A for synthetic ion exchange resin recovery of vitamin b12 (Pfizer), US3094936A for fuel cell for sump pumps (A. O. Smith), US7141171 for membrane cascade-based separation (2006), and an additional patent with Michael Cochrem for membrane cascade-based separation, a counter flow cascade system that features a novel separation technique.

Awards and honors

Lightfoot was a 2004 recipient of the

, awarded by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

"for his innovative research and leadership in transport phenomena focusing on biochemical and

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

with application to blood oxygenation, bioseparation techniques, and diabetic responses." As emeritus in 1996 Lightfoot received the

AICHE The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

Keynote Speaker Award, for which he delivered the keynote speech at a convention in Chicago that year. Lightfoot was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1992. He was elected to the membership of both the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

for "Contributions to mass transfer and separation processes, and research on quantitative design procedures in biochemical and biomedical engineering" in 1979 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1995. He was one of three members to be elected to both academies. He was a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (1992). He was awarded the

AIChE The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

's William Walker Award for contributions to chemical engineering literature (1985) and its Warren K. Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education (1991). In 1985, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Trondheim (formerly Norwegian Institute of Technology and now the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

), where he had worked on a Fulbright Research Scholarship in 1962. In 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

Danish Technical University The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

(DTU). In the spring of 2016, the University of Wisconsin Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering hosted qbio 2016, a symposium in honor of Lightfoot's 90th birthday.

Books

Lightfoot is the co-author of several influential books in transport phenomena, including the classic textbook ''Transport Phenomena'', which was translated into many languages, including Spanish, Italian, Czech, Russian, and Chinese. * ''Transport Phenomena'' * ''Transport Phenomena in Living Systems: Biomedical Aspects of Momentum and Mass Transport''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightfoot, Edwin N. 1925 births 2017 deaths Engineering academics American chemical engineers American fluid dynamicists University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Cornell University College of Engineering alumni National Medal of Science laureates Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering