Joseph Neng Shun Kwong (October 28, 1916 – January 4, 1998) was a

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

, most famous for his role in the development of the

Redlich–Kwong equation of state In physics and thermodynamics, the Redlich–Kwong equation of state is an empirical, algebraic equation that relates temperature, pressure, and volume of gases. It is generally more accurate than the van der Waals equation and the ideal gas equat ...

Biography

Joseph Kwong was born in Chung Won, China in 1916, and emigrated to the United States as a child with his family. Kwong earned a bachelor's degree in 1937 from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in chemistry and basic medical sciences. He then earned a Master of Science degree in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and was awarded a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1942. Kwong worked as a chemical engineer at Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (later 3M) from 1942 to 1944, helping to develop adhesive products. In 1944, Kwong began working at the Shell Development Company in California. During his time at Shell, Kwong met

Otto Redlich Otto Redlich (November 4, 1896 – August 14, 1978) was an Austrian physical chemist Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics suc ...

, a physical chemist who had fled his native Austria to the United States in 1938 as the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s took power. The two presented a paper in 1948 describing what is now known as the

, which related the pressure, volume, and temperature of different compounds. Kwong returned to 3M in 1951 as a senior chemical engineer in the Chemical Division, working there until retirement in 1980, at the age of 64. The development of the Redlich-Kwong equation was the last significant theoretical treatment of thermodynamics. He died of pneumonia in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 4, 1998, at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwong, Joseph Neng Shun 1916 births 1998 deaths University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni Chinese chemical engineers Chinese physical chemists Chinese emigrants to the United States Thermodynamicists University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Deaths from pneumonia in Minnesota