My Chemical Engineering Hero is: Martin Ruhemann

Adrian Finn remembers Martin Ruhemann, a man who overcame extraordinary adversity to shape the future of chemical engineering with both brilliance and humility

Martin Ruhemann was an intellectual heavyweight, indeed a genius who wore that genius very lightly. An extremely modest man, he was kind and helpful to me when starting my career and many more like me. His technical ability and persona were a great example. Martin was still extremely sharp in his 80s when he was able to discourse with Bodo Linnhoff at the fledgeling Process Integration Centre at UMIST (now Manchester University) on the significance and great benefits of process integration and Pinch Technology.

What do you admire about their achievements?

Martin’s back story was quite incredible. His father was an assistant to James Dewar at the University of Cambridge and supported Dewar in being the first person to liquify hydrogen in 1898. The family left the UK for Germany with the advent of World War One.

Martin studied and gained a PhD at the University of Berlin with the leading physicists of the time and knew Einstein, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger. Increasing fascism and antisemitism caused Martin to leave Germany to go to what appeared a dream job in Kharkiv, Ukraine (then in the USSR), joining a group of leading low-temperature physicists. He developed into a chemical engineer, employing thermodynamic principles to the design of cryogenic plants. However, within a few years, it became clear that work colleagues were “disappearing” in Soviet “purges”, so he left for England. His work in Kharkiv led to his seminal work, The Separation of Gases, in 1940 which discusses cryogenic gas processing design in detail for the first time and even the liquefaction of helium (at 4K).

His experiences certainly generated remarkable strength of character and fortitude due to challenges that are difficult for many of us to imagine today.

How have they influenced how you approach engineering?

When I arrived at Petrocarbon Developments in Manchester in 1981 (Costain since 1984) on placement as a master’s student at Leeds University I was amazed at the ability of the cryogenic process engineering group. There was Lex Harmens who developed the Harmens-Knapp cubic equation of state, David Limb, Harry Isalski, Terry Tomlinson, and Bob Czarnecki working under an outstanding leader in Mel Duckett. In addition, Roy Banks and Sandy Dunlop were high-class process engineers working in sales and business development. All were influenced by the legacy, technical capability, guidance, and inventions in cryogenic gas processing of Martin, who was still working in the office well into his 80s. His development of the single column pure nitrogen plant resulted in hundreds of plants being built and operated, and he proved ahead of his time in the use of mixed refrigerants for liquefied natural gas and in the development of many other cryogenic processes.

He acted as a mentor to junior engineers and one would be encouraged to take an idea to Martin for his review. My favourite example came when Martin had actually retired. David Limb had developed a training course in the application of thermodynamic principles to process design, which was world leading in my view. When David left in the late 1980s, Terry Tomlinson and I wrote this course up for two papers in The Chemical Engineer in 1990 (pictured below). I have a letter from Martin with his views on our article, in which he states it provides more insight into how to use thermodynamics in chemical engineering design then he ever learned from his research supervisor Max Planck! This compliment may have been something of an exaggeration, but it was certainly a very kind statement and reflective of the man. One always felt with Martin you could ask what may have been a rather “daft” question, but he never saw any question as daft and only encouraged the curiosity to ask questions. This is an approach that has stayed with me as I’ve managed teams throughout my career.

If you could ask them one thing now, what would it be?

At Costain, we’re playing a leading role in delivering infrastructure and engineering that supports the UK’s energy transition, including hydrogen and carbon capture. If I could ask Martin one thing now it would be how his deep understanding of thermodynamic principles and heat and power could help solve the challenges of energy transition in the UK and the wider market.

Alternatively, I would ask this remarkable man about the constant challenges in the first four decades of his life and how he found the strength and perseverance to overcome them to achieve so much at the time.