Haldor Frederik Axel Topsøe (24 May 1913 – 20 May 2013) was a Danish engineer and founder and chairman of the catalysis company '' Haldor Topsøe''. He was grandson of the chemist and crystallographer Haldor Topsøe (1842–1935), after whom he is named.

Biography

Topsøe was born on 24 May 1913 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, as son of captain Flemming Topsøe (1885–1954) and Hedvig Sofie Topsøe (1888–1961). After graduating from Frederiksberg Gymnasium in 1931, he started studying physics under

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

and chemistry at the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

. He became a

master of Science in Engineering A Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) is an academic graduate degree awarded by universities in many countries. It is differentiated from a Master of Engineering (a professional degree). A MSE can require completion of a thesis and qualifi ...

in chemistry in 1936. He started his career with working at

AarhusKarlshamn AAK AB, formerly AarhusKarlshamn, is a global Sweden-based company and producer of vegetable oils and fats. History The company, formerly known as AarhusKarlshamn, was founded in 2005 through the merger of Karlshamns AB (founded 1918 in Kar ...

1936–1939 before founding his own catalysis company '' Haldor Topsøe'' in 1940 with which he established himself as engineer in

Kongens Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site ...

. The company got a production structure in

Frederikssund Frederikssund () is a Denmark, Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden with a population of 17,583 (1 January 2025).

in 1958 and later in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. During the 1950s, Topsøe experimented with petition of

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

s in the cellar in his home and in 1959, he founded the process Topsil. Topsøe owned the company ''Haldor Topsøe'' until 1972 when the Italian company ''Snamprogetti'' took over 50% of its shares. In 2007, he bought it back and it is now owned to 100% by the Topsøe family. Besides his own process, Topsøe has also worked as among Chairman of the

Scandinavian Airlines The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...

and

Danish Air Lines Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S or DDL, trading in English as Danish Air Lines, was Denmark's national airline from 1918 until it merged to create Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in 1951. DDL was established on 29 October 1918, but started its ...

and been member of the board of directors of among '' Kampsax'', '' Incentive A/S'', '' De forenede Bryggerier'', '' Haand i Haand'' and ''

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

''. Topsøe became an honorary doctor in 1968 at

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

, in 1969 at the

and in 1986 at

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology (, commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a private university, private research university located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on engineering and science, but more broadly it also conducts research ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1985, he received the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

' gold medal and in 1991 a Hoover Medal. Topsøe was also member of several organizations, among them the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (, IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promotes contact and exchange between business, ...

and since 1951 Akademiet for de Tekniske Videnskaber. Topsøe owned the historic house Frydenlund from 1960.

Death

In early May 2013, Topsøe broke his

hip In vertebrate anatomy, the hip, or coxaLatin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) (: ''coxae'') in medical terminology, refers to either an anatomical region or a joint on t ...

following a fall and had to cancel his planned

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

celebration. He died on 20 May, just four days before his 100th birthday.

Family

Topsøe was married to Inger Topsøe, born ''Veng Kunst'' 18 April 1913, from 1936 until her death on 20 August 2008 and they have four children, among them the mathematician

Flemming Topsøe Flemming Topsøe (born 25 August 1938) is a Danish mathematician, and is emeritus in the mathematics department of the University of Copenhagen. He is the author of several mathematical science works, among them works about analysis, probabilit ...

(born 25 August 1938) and the engineer Henrik Topsøe (born 1944) who became Chairman of ''Haldor Topsøe'' after his father's death in 2013; Henrik died of cancer on 9 August 2019, the day before his 75th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Topsoe, Haldor Danish chief executives 20th-century Danish engineers Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog 1913 births 2013 deaths Politicians from Copenhagen Danish chemical engineers