Octave Levenspiel
Octave Levenspiel (July 6, 1926 – March 5, 2017) was a professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University (OSU). His principal interest was chemical reaction engineering, and he was the author of a major textbook Chemical Reaction Engineering as well as numerous research publications.[1]
Life
Levenspiel was born in Shanghai, China, in 1926, the son of Abe and Lily Levenspiel, who were Polish Jews who had gone to China to escape oppression in Europe.[2] At the age of 15, he was on a ship to the USA when the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, so he was interned in Manila until the end of the war.[2] In the USA, he graduated with a bachelor's degree from Berkeley in 1947. He obtained his PhD from OSU in 1952, and after a period teaching at other schools returned to OSU where he spent the remainder of his career, retiring in 1991 but continuing as Emeritus Professor.[2]
In 1952 he married Mary Jo Smiley and they had three children. He died March 5, 2017.[2]
Work
The Levenspiel plot is named for him.
Professor Octave Levenspiel was well known among his students for his ability to do quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. GNU Octave, a high-level language primarily intended for numerical computations and developed by John W. Eaton, a former student of Octave Levenspiel, is named after him.
Books
All of Levenspiel's books listed below have been translated to several other languages.
- Chemical Reaction Engineering, Wiley; 3 Sub edition (August 13, 1998), ISBN 0-471-25424-X
- The Chemical Reactor Omnibook, Oregon St Univ Bookstores (January 1993), ISBN 0-88246-160-5
- Fluidization Engineering (coauthored), Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd; (October 1991), ISBN 0-409-90233-0
- Engineering Flow and Heat Exchange, Plenum Pub Corp (Dez. 1984), ISBN 0-306-41599-2
- Understanding Engineering Thermo, Prentice Hall PTR; (September 4, 1996), ISBN 0-13-531203-5
- Rambling through Science and Technology, Lulu, 2007
Awards
- R.H. Wilhelm award (AIChE)
- W.K. Lewis award (AIChE)
- Founders award with gold medal (AIChE)
- ChE Lectureship award (ASEE)
- P.V. Danckwerts award (IChemE)
- Honorary doctorates from France, Serbia, and the Colorado School of Mines
- Elected into the National Academy of Engineering (2000)
- Amundson award (ISCRE/NASCRE) (2001)