Stephen Lawroski Award

Stephen Lawroski – Chemical Engineer and Visionary

Argonne's Chemical Engineering Division has a rich tradition of blending science and engineering, a tradition that began with its first director, Stephen Lawroski.

When the Division was formed in 1948, Lawroski made a policy decision that probably had a more profound effect than any other single factor on the nature of the Chemical Engineering Division's future work. He believed that process development should be an integrated effort from the test tube to plant design. Thus the major programs often included basic and applied lab-scale research, basic engineering studies, equipment development, engineering design, materials development, pilot plant or semiworks testing, conceptual plant design, and some economic evaluations. Today, as the United States focuses on how to remain globally competitive, Dr. Lawrowki's philosophy is embodied in the U.S. Department of Energy's approach to enabling the nation to meet its demanding energy and national security needs. (See DOE report, "The Path to Sustainable Nuclear Energy".)

In 1944, Dr. Lawroski was with Standard Oil Development Co. in New Jersey when Glenn Seaborg recruited him for research on separating uranium from plutonium. He established the technology that purified plutonium for use in the atomic bomb and later in nuclear power plants. Lawroski came to Argonne and its Chemical Engineering/ Technology Division in 1947. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the general advisory committee of the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1974, he was named to serve on the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, an Atomic Energy Commission committee. He retired from Argonne in 1980. The Division's Lawroski awards recognize retired research staff who have made outstanding contributions to science and technology, and who have exemplified this philosophy in their work.

More on Stephen Lawroski and the Chemical Engineering Division

The Lawroski Award Winners