In memory ofJohn

 Department Head Kim Dam-Johansen and Professor Jens Nielsen remember Professor John Villadsen, who died on 22 July.

Head of DTU Chemical Engineering, Kim Dam-Johansen, writes:

We have lost a great and inspiring chemical engineer, and a good friend.

John Villadsen passed away in the early hours of 22 July 2021, marking the end of a long and distinguished career at DTU.

John Villadsen was born on 12 June 1936. Having completed his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 1959, he served for two years in the Danish army, before returning to DTU to his PhD degree, which he was awarded in 1963.

Following a period as a postdoc at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), where he worked with Professor Warren E. Stewart on development of the method of orthogonal collocation for solving boundary-value problems, he returned to DTU Chemical Engineering in 1966. After a few years of leave working for NIRO Atomizer in Brazil, he returned to DTU Chemical Engineering, where he worked with chemical reaction technique and catalysis until 1984. From 1976 to 1984 he was also a professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston.

In 1984, John Villadsen’s career took another significant leap when he was named one of ten Danish so-called ‘Super Professors’. John Villadsen was tasked with strengthening Danish research and education in the field of biotechnology, which he had already started to integrate into his teaching of chemical reaction techniques. Over the next 15 years, John Villadsen was responsible for the Danish Centre for Process Biotechnology (CPB) at DTU. In 2001, Jens Nielsen took over as head of the centre.

From 2001 to 2003, DTU Chemical Engineering worked with Novozymes to establish a Novozymes Bioprocess Academy at DTU. The centre was established in conjunction with the then BioCentrum, and with a significant number of PhD students funded by Novozymes. The following year, DTU Chemical Engineering received a donation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to fund a professorship in Biochemical Engineering. John Villadsen took on the task of getting the venture off to a good start before his official retirement in 2006. Based on the great efforts of John Villadsen, the field of research has since grown to such an extent that in 2008 the department took the official English name Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.

Since officially retiring, John Villadsen remained a fixture at the department, making significant contributions to the academic and social life of the department as a ‘Senior Professor’ for 15 years. Right up until the end, he remained a great source of inspiration to all of us, and most recently he was working on a summary of the 150-year history of the department.

Personally, I have known John since 1982/83, when he supervised my exam project. He was a wonderful supervisor, who went on to become a good friend, always ready to share his considerable knowledge and insights. 

May he rest in peace.

Professor Jens Nielsen, CEO at Bioinnovation Institute, writes:

Professor John Villadsen was one of the pioneers of modern Chemical Engineering. After receiving his MSc in Chemical Engineering from Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 1959 he served for 2 years in the Danish Army (Royal Engineers) where he obtained the rank of Lieutenant, before he returned to DTU for taking his PhD under the supervision of Professor Søltoft, who at that time was building a new Chemical Engineering curriculum at DTU. Following his graduation in 1963 he joined the Faculty at the Department of Chemical Engineering at DTU.

John’s ambitions stretched beyond DTU, and in 1965 and 1966 he worked as NATO post doctoral fellow at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, which was one of world pioneering Chemical Engineering departments at that time. There John worked together with Professor Warren E. Stewart on development of the orthogonal collocation method, which enabled calculation of the concentration gradient in catalytic pellets, which was the fundament for designing better catalysts. The results of this work were published in a series of seminal papers in Chemical Engineering Science of which the first has been identified as a ‘Citation Classic’ by Science Citation Index.

After his return to Denmark, John divided his time between DTU where he continued his work on the orthogonal collocation, and NIRO Atomizer Company where he designed spray drier units in Brazil. In 1970, his work on orthogonal collocation was collected in his doctoral dissertation entitled “Selected Approximation Methods for Chemical Engineering Problems”. This work was further developed into the now classic textbook “Solution of Differential Equation Models by Polynomial Approximation” which he co-wrote with Michael Michelsen, a close friend and colleague at DTU.

Despite his anchoring at DTU, John also held a number of intermittent positions in industry and at foreign universities over the years. He has worked as a consultant for a long list of international companies and has served on a number of governmental committees, particularly in connection with transfer of technology to the developing nations. This clearly illustrates John’s passion for ensuring that knowledge was transferred from universities to practice, and to the benefit of society, something that drove him throughout his life. From 1976 to 1984 John was Adjunct professor at the Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, splitting his time between DTU and Houston.

John’s various positions outside DTU came to an end in 1984 when he was appointed one of 10 new research professors in Denmark (at the time called “Super-Professor”). In 1986, following a major restructuring and emerging of biotechnology at DTU, John transferred to a position at the newly established Department of Biotechnology, where he took a position as Professor of Biotechnology. Several years before the transfer, he had started to include enzyme kinetics in his course on Reaction Engineering, but after the move, he actively entered biotechnology with a focus on fermentation kinetics. In 1987, this resulted in the foundation of the Center for Process Biotechnology (CPB), which was one of 10 nationally funded research centers established with the purpose of strengthening the Danish research position in biotechnology. During his time as Director of CPB the center became a strong international hub in the field of Biochemical Engineering.

John also served in various leadership positions. Between 1991 and 2001 he was Dean of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at DTU. He was also an active member of the EFCE working parties on Computer Simulations and Reaction Engineering and member of the EFB working party on Biochemical Reactors

In 2004 John moved back to the Department of Chemical Engineering, where he was appointed as the Novo Nordisk-funded Chaired Professor with the purpose of creating a center for Biochemical Engineering as a joint collaboration between different departments at DTU. In 2006 John officially retired but continued working at DTU as Senior Professor at Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. In 2007 and 2008 he was appointed director of the Chemical Engineering education at University of Trinidad & Tobago, which had an agreement with DTU. John’s continued engagement over the last 15 years is well illustrated by several key papers published in this period, as well as another book on biochemical engineering.

John has received many recognitions for his science and engineering. In 1992 he received the Villum Kann Rasmussen’s Årslegat, one of the most prestigious science prizes in Denmark. John has also received the Julius Thomsen Gold Medal from DTU, and has been appointed honorary doctor at Åbo Academy (Finland), Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (Mexico). He was appointed member of the Danish Academy of Engineering in 1979 and in 2003 he was appointed as member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences.

One of John’s passions has always been teaching, and he often expressed that his ideas are mainly generated through interaction with students. He has always had engaging interactions with his graduate and undergraduate students who have had the fortune of experiencing John’s excellent teaching. Many of John’s former students have taken leading positions in Danish academia and industry, and his engagement with his graduate students extended beyond research to several of his other passions like chess and bridge. John’s engagement in teaching inspired him to write a foundational textbook on Bioreaction Engineering Principles, which was published in three editions, with constant improvements and addition of new examples and exercises.

Professor John Villadsen was instrumental in creating the modern Danish Bio- and Chemical Engineering and his teaching, supervision and mentoring has been very important to ensure that the Danish biotech industry is thriving still today. He will always be remembered and missed for his great and wonderful personality, his deep knowledge and scientific creativity and his seminal contributions to Danish and international world of science and technology.