Michel Boudart, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at Stanford and one of the world’s eminent experts in catalysis, died May 2, 2012. He was 87.
Born in Belgium, Boudart graduated from the University of Louvain with a bachelor’s degree in 1944, and a master’s in 1947. At Princeton he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1950.
From 1950 to 1954, he was a research associate at Forrestal Research Center. He was a Princeton faculty member from 1954 to 1961. From 1961 to 1964, he taught at Berkeley before going to Stanford. Boudart was chair of Stanford’s chemical engineering department from 1975 to 1978. He became professor emeritus in 1994.
In 1974, during the first oil crisis, he and two associates founded Catalytica, which successfully worked on very complex catalytical problems for industry and government.
Without catalysis, satellites and international telephone links would be greatly hampered and previously unimpeded noxious chemicals would pour out of autos. Boudart was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, in addition to receiving four honorary doctorates and four patents.
He is survived by four children and five grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Marina, and a daughter.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.