(33a) L.K.Doraiswamy: Scholar, Mentor and Parent

LK- as he was frequently called - was one of the founding fathers of modern chemical engineering in India and a leader in the field worldwide. After a distinguished career at India’s National Chemical Laboratory he retired in 1989 as the first non-chemist director. He then joined the chemical engineering faculty of Iowa State where his final position was the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering (Emeritus). LKD’s work encompassed the highly theoretical and the extremely practical – as befitting the needs of the new nation of his youth.  His work in theoretical and experimental catalytic reaction engineering, gas-solid non-catalytic reactions, phase-transfer catalysis, and sonochemical reaction engineering helped to establish organic synthesis engineering as a modern discipline. He was the recipient of numerous awards in India and internationally, including the Padma Bhushan (India’s renowned national award), the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for lifetime achievement in engineering and technology, the Diamond Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers honoring the “legends” of Indian chemical engineering, the Richard H. Wilhelm and William H. Walker Awards of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and honorary doctorates from the University of Wisconsin (U.S.) and the University of Salford (U.K.). He published about 180 papers in international journals many of which are frequently cited and some of which are incorporated as standard methods in textbooks. Most recently he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering. True to his character, until the very end LK was co-authoring a graduate-level textbook on reaction engineering and writing a “non-engineering book” on the nature of time. His panoramic breadth of knowledge is reflected in his 2010 book “Excellence in an Overlapping Culture: The Big History of India’s National Chemical Laboratory.” His legacy will live on through his varied professional achievements, the institutions he has built, and the many students, colleagues and family members he has mentored.