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WARREN LEE McCABE
1 899- 1 982
BY RALPH E. FADUM
WARREN LEE MCCABE recognized as one of the founders of the
profession of chemical engineering, and a legend in engineering
education for his textbooks and innovative ideas, died in retirement
at Black Mountain, North Carolina, on August 24, 1982, just seven-
teen days after his eighty-third birthday. At that time he was R. ].
Reynolds Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at North
Carolina State University.
The name "McCabe" is significantly entwined in the history of
chemical engineering. A colleague once said, "Ask a junior or senior
chemical engineering student, or a process design engineer, to iden-
tify the name 'McCabe' and they will invariably call to mind one of
the co-authors of the McCabe-Thiele graphical methods for design
of distillation columns. Ask another member of our profession the
same question and he might recall that McCabe was among the first
to call attention to the usefulness of an enthalpy concentration
diagram for binary solutions or the first to enunciate the AL law of
crystal growth. Ask a contemporary and he will without doubt asso-
ciate the name with one of the most distinguished chemical engineer-
ing educators, researchers, authors, and administrators of the last
generation. "
Another colleague described Warren McCabe's students and col-
leagues as "fortunate beneficiaries of his influence through his wis-
dom, sensitivity, good humor and creativeness."
Born in Bay City, Michigan, on August 7, 1899, Warren Lee
193
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194
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
McCabe was drawn to a career in chemical engineering when, just
out of high school, he became a chemist's assistant in a wood distilla-
tion plant. It was at this time that his interest was aroused in the
evolving concept of unit operations an area with which his name is
now synonymous.
This interest led him to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
where he earned his B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1922
and his M.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1923. After a period
of teaching in the East, he returned to the University of Michigan
for his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering in 1928.
His teaching career included faculty appointments at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology (1923-1925~; Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (1925~; the University of Michigan (1925-1936~; Carnegie
Institute of Technology (1936-1947), where he served as Head of the
Department of Chemical Engineering from 1938 to 1947; Polytech-
nic Institute of Brooklyn (1953-1964), where he was Administration
Dean; and North Carolina State University (1964-1972~. He also
served as a member of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Council
of Princeton University (1949-1955~.
His professional and industrial experience included consulting
associations with several industries. From 1947 to 1953 he was
Director of Research and Vice-President of the Flintkote Company,
Whippany, New Jersey.
Among his war activities, he served from 1944 to 1945 as Director
of the Central Engineering Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania.
It was during his tenure at Michigan that he and W. L. Badger
wrote the textbook Elements of Chemical Er~girzeer?r~g. This book, pub-
lished in 1930, has been used by colleges and universities throughout
the world. In 1956 he and Professor l. C. Smith of Cornell Univer-
sity wrote a successor text, Unit Operations of Chemical E?~girzeer~r~g.
These landmark publications have strongly influenced the develop-
ment of chemical engineering.
Throughout his teaching career, Professor McCabe exhibited the
highest concern for his students. This was exemplified by the devel-
opment of the McCabe-Thiele calculation technique for the analysis
of distillation columns. This development was motivated by his con-
viction that much simpler methods of teaching the subject of distilla-
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WARREN LEE McCABE
195
tion to chemical engineers were needed. His rapport with students
for more than half a century was legendary among his colleagues.
One of them once explained, "A significant effect of his presence
was a calming influence on the turbulent times of the late sixties and
early seventies in which most technology was under fire and out of
favor with a generation of disillusioned students."
At sixty-five, Professor McCabe retired from the Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
with his devoted wife, Lillian. After he moved South, he was
approached by his long-time friend and colleague, the late E. M.
Schoenborn, who headed the Department of Chemical Engineering
at North Carolina State University, to join his chemical engineering
faculty as a Visiting Professor. Warren McCabe's "retirement"
turned into a vigorous twelve-year period of productive teaching,
research, and writing. He supervised graduate research in crystalli-
zation and elucidated the phenomenon of contact nucleation hailed
by those in the field as a piece of work of "great significance in
. . .. . .. . ,, ~ . .. . .. . .
describing the crystallization process. During this time he also
worked on the third edition of his book on unit operations that was
published in 1976.
He frequently joined the Dean of Engineering at North Carolina
State University for discussions of engineering education—where it
was headed, how it could be improved. He was regarded as the elder
statesman of the School of Engineering during his tenure there.
Professor McCabe was very active in the affairs of the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers, and he was elected a Fellow in
1971. He served the institute in many capacities, chairing engineer-
ing education committees, conducting special assignments, and
leading the institute as Director, Vice-President, and President. He
was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Pi Tau Alpha; the
American Chemical Society, the American Society of Engineering
Education, the Association of Engineering Colleges, and the Ameri-
can Society of Mechanical Engineers.
In 1977 Warren McCabe was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering and was cited for his "contribution as an educator,
researcher, and industrial manager to the understanding and design
of chemical separation processes. "
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196
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Among his many awards are the William H. Walker Award,
Founders Award, Warren K. Lewis Award, and Tyler Awarcl from
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; the U.S. Presidential
Certificate of Merit (1948~; the University of Michigan Distin-
guished Alumnus Award (1953~; the Sesquicentennial Award (1967~;
and the Golden Key Award of the American Society for Engineering
Education.
Perhaps the following words of one of his warmest admirers, Dr.
Ronald Rousseau of North Carolina State University, best sum up
the life of Dr. Warren Lee McCabe:
Dates, places, titles do not adequately describe the contributions Warren has
made as one of the important and distinguished educators during the middle
part of the 20th Century.... As an engineer and administrator in industry and
academics, Warren has interacted with his times, and as a result, he has been a
part of historical events in which many of us would like to have participated....
It is impossible to measure all that Warren's career has meant to the field of
chemical engineering education and to chemical engineering and to society in
general.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
chemical engineers
