Donald L. Campbell

Who was Donald L. Campbell?

Donald Lewis Campbell was an American chemical engineer. He and his team of three other scientists in the same field are most known for having developed the fluid catalytic cracking process in 1942. This process provided a more efficient method for petroleum refiners to obtain high-octane gasoline by through the conversion of crude oil. The team’s revolutionary creation is explained in US Patent No. 2,451,804, A Method of and Apparatus for Contacting Solids and Gases, and eventually transformed the way petroleum was developed. Their invention was especially important in World War II, as refiners could finally provide enough fuel for the allies’ fighter planes to battle against the Axis. For his significant contributions to the field of chemical engineering, Campbell was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.