Warren K. Lewis

Warren Kendall Lewis (August 21, 1882 to March 9, 1975) was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology born in Laurel, Delaware, who earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Breslau in 1908 and is often called the father of modern chemical engineering. He co-authored an early and influential textbook that introduced the concept of unit operations, the idea of breaking industrial chemical processes down into a common set of physical steps, which became a foundation of how chemical engineering is taught. With his MIT colleague Edwin R. Gilliland, he developed the Houdry process, done under contract to the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, into the modern method of fluid catalytic cracking used throughout the petroleum industry, and he later served on a Manhattan Project committee.