Thomas Kilgore Sherwood (July 25, 1903 – January 14, 1976) was a noted American chemical engineer and a founding member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

Biography

Sherwood was born in Columbus, Ohio, and spent much of his youth in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. In 1923 he received his B.S. from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

, and entered the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) for his Ph.D. His dissertation, "The Mechanism of the Drying of Solids," was completed in 1929, a year after he had become assistant professor at

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 ac ...

. In 1930 he returned to MIT as assistant professor where he remained until his retirement, serving as associate professor (1933), professor (1941), and dean of engineering (1946–1952). In 1969 he retired from MIT to become professor of chemical engineering at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Sherwood's primary research area was

mass transfer Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location (usually meaning stream, phase, fraction or component) to another. Mass transfer occurs in many processes, such as absorption, evaporation, drying, precipitation, membrane filtration ...

, and in 1937 he published the first major textbook in the field, ''Absorption and Extraction'' (republished 1974 as ''Mass Transfer''). The

Sherwood number The Sherwood number (Sh) (also called the mass transfer Nusselt number) is a dimensionless number used in mass-transfer operation. It represents the ratio of the convective mass transfer to the rate of diffusive mass transport, and is named in h ...

is named in his honor:

Sh = \frac

where *

K_c

= overall mass transfer coefficient; *

L

= characteristic length; *

\mathcal

= component diffusion coefficient His activities in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

included organizing chemical engineers for the

National Defense Research Committee The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...

(NDRC) in 1940; consulting to the Baruch Committee on synthetic rubber development (1942); serving as NDRC Section Chief for Miscellaneous Chemical Engineering Problems (1942), where he oversaw creation of new hydraulic fluids, antifouling coatings for ship bottoms, large

smoke screen A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships. Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...

generators, etc.; and member of the Whitman Committee on

jet propulsion Jet propulsion is the propulsion of an object in one direction, produced by ejecting a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. By Newton's third law, the moving body is propelled in the opposite direction to the jet. Reaction engines operatin ...

(1944). In autumn 1944 he followed American troops into Europe to gather scientific intelligence. His industrial consulting work included efforts in seawater desalination, removal of sulfur dioxide from emissions, freeze-drying

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

, and the manufacture of penicillin and

vinyl acetate Vinyl acetate is an organic compound with the formula CH3CO2CH=CH2. This colorless liquid is the precursor to polyvinyl acetate and ethene-vinyl acetate copolymers, important industrial polymers. Production The worldwide production capacity of v ...

. Sherwood received the U.S. Medal for Merit (1948), won major awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and American Chemical Society, and was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1948), National Academy of Sciences (1958), and

Works

References

National Academy of Engineering memorial tribute
1903 births 1976 deaths People from Columbus, Ohio McGill University alumni Fluid dynamicists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Founding members of the United States National Academy of Engineering American chemical engineers Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty MIT School of Engineering faculty UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty Engineers from Ohio 20th-century American engineers Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American expatriates in Canada {{US-engineer-stub