Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- R K Murphy, Dr.Ing (Darmstadt) - pioneer of chemical engineering education in Australia
- In
- Chemical Engineering in Australia
- Imprint
- vol. ChE15, no. 2, Jun 1990, pp. 8-
- Abstract
March 1 1990 saw the 75th anniversary of the first lecture in chemical engineering in Australia by Dr R K Murphy, the 'Doc' as he was known. Following his graduation as a chemical engineer from Columbia University, Murphy went to Germany and gained a PhD in electrochemistry at Darmstadt. He came to Australia at the beginning of World War I when new plants for electrolytic refining of copper and zinc were being commissioned, and a steelworks was being built at Newcastle. Clearly, his skills were needed in this country and a post was found for him at Sydney Technical College to create a School of Applied Sciences. His course in chemical engineering was based on the German system of employing both industrial chemists and mechanical engineers to operate their chemical industry, as so successfully demonstrated by the Haber-Bosch synthesis of ammonia in 1913 with the first commercial plant commissioned in 1915.