Chemical engineer wins Draper Prize

The engineering equivalent of the Nobel Prizes—the National Academy of Engineering's Charles Stark Draper Prize—has, for the first time, been awarded to a chemical engineer. He is 83-year-old Vladimir (Val) Haensel, still an active professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Haensel received the prize, worth $450,000, at the academy's annual meeting last week. He retired in 1979 as vice president for science and technology from the only company he ever worked for, Universal Oil Products, now UOP. Haensel, born in Germany of Russian parents, is a renowned researcher in the field of catalysis and petroleum refining. He is best known for his 1947 development of Platforming, the trademarked process that uses platinum as the catalyst in the refining of naphtha to produce high-octane aromatics for high-performance gasolines. Haensel's work in this and other areas of catalysis earned him membership in the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering as well as ...