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Memorial Tributes Volume 12 (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Chalmer Gatlin Kirkbride
Pages 156-161

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From page 157...
... , now BP. From 1934 to 1942, as assistant director for research at Amoco's Texas City refinery, he ran projects to develop a catalytic cracking process and synthetic rubber for the war effort.
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From page 158...
... In 1952, as president and chairman of the board, Kirkbride restored the bankrupt company to fiscal health, collecting a backlog of some $20 million in unpaid royalties and building its licensing business back to the point that its corporate parent, Sun Oil Company, could sell the firm. He also started Houdry's chemical marketing department and established an atomic energy department in its wholly owned subsidiary, Catalytic Construction Company.
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From page 159...
... He delivered speeches to industry and civic groups across the country warning of a looming energy crisis that would be worse than the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and urging investment in domestic energy sources that could be developed quickly, including nuclear power and oil from shale deposits in the Colorado Rockies. His last patents were for environmentally friendly processes for producing oil from shale and tar sands.
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From page 160...
... AIChE honored him with the Professional Progress Award in 1951, the Founders Award in 1967, and the Fuels and Petrochemicals Award in 1976; in 1983, on the occasion of the AIChE's Diamond Jubilee, he was named one of "Thirty Eminent Chemical Engineers of America." In 1964, the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers named him Engineer of the Year, and in 1971, the Engineers Club of Philadelphia awarded him the George Washington Medal, the club's highest honor. Government honors included service on President Richard M
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From page 161...
... from Beaver College in 1959, a D.E. from Drexel University in 1960, and the Engineering Centennial Medal and an honorary D.E.
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Key Terms

  • oil company
  • chemical engineers
  • standard oil
  • chemical engineer
  • sun oil

  • widener university
  • tar sands
  • building docking
  • philadelphia awarded
  • ocean science

  • president richard
  • prominent professional
  • process corporation
  • widener faculty
  • producing oil

  • energy sources
  • domestic energy
  • american energy
  • delaware county
  • catalytic cracking

  • predecessor institution
  • petrochemicals award
  • government honors
  • kirkbride maintained
  • synthetic rubber

  • kirkbride hall
  • engineering laboratory
  • energy crisis
  • council incorporated
  • included service


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