Training

MIT's first Chemical Engineering text book the IChemE

The first course in Chemical Engineering was established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in America in 1888 and taught by Lewis M. Norton. This introduced established engineering practices to chemistry students. MIT continued to lead the way - in 1916 Arthur D Little founded a School of Chemical Engineering Practice. Little also coined the famous phrase unit operation, which played a central role in distinguishing Chemical Engineering as a profession. Warren Lewis, William Walker and William McAdams went on to establish the first department of Chemical Engineering in 1920, again at MIT, and wrote the first thorough text book, Principles of Chemical Engineering, in 1923.

U.K. University courses

In Britain in the 1920s, the four courses in Chemical Engineering, including those at Imperial and University Colleges, London, produced fewer than 100 chemical engineers. Towards the end of the second world war the U.K. government identified a shortage and formed a committee, headed by the eminent Chemical Engineering consultant, Herbert Cremer to investigate. Cremer recommended establishing new, and expanding existing, courses. Cambridge hosted one of the first new departments, founded in 1945 and funded by Shell, which lent an aura of academic respectibility to the subject. A course started in 1948 and other Universities and technical colleges followed suit.

The Chemical Engineering department in Cambridge

There are now over 20 higher education establishments in the U.K. offering IChemE accredited degree courses for 2003:

• Aston University, Birmingham
• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• University of Cambridge
• University of Edinburgh
• Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
• Imperial College, London
• University of Leeds
• Loughborough University
• University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)
• University of Newcastle upon Tyne
• University of Nottingham
• University of Oxford
• University of Paisley
• Queens' University, Belfast
• University of Sheffield
• South Bank University
• University of Strathclyde
• University of Surrey
• University of Wales, Swansea
• University College, London

Professional institutions