Csaba Horváth (chemical engineer)
Encyclopedia
Csaba Horváth was a Hungarian
-American
chemical engineer
, particularly noted for building the first high performance liquid chromatograph
.
, Hungary
and graduated in chemical engineering
from the Budapest
Institute of Technology
. In 1956 he went to West Germany
to work for Hoechst AG
. He then studied physical chemistry
at the J.W. Goethe University
in Frankfurt
, receiving his Ph.D.
in 1963. The same year he married Valeria Scioscioli in Rome
, and they emigrated to the USA. He joined the Physics Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School
. The couple had two daughters.
In 1964 he joined Yale School of Medicine
. From 1967 he also had an appointment in the Faculty of Engineering. In 1972 he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale
, becoming full Professor in 1979 and Chair of the Department from 1987 to 1993. He was named as Roberto Goizueta
Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1998. He died on 13 April 2004, at Yale-New Haven Hospital
of a stroke.
Professor Horvath had an abiding interest in the advancement of the careers of young scientists, and has been memorialized by the establishment of the Csaba Horvath Young Scientist Award for the best presentation by a scientist under the age of 35 at the International Symposium on High Performance Liquid Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC) meeting. The award is sponsored by HPLC, Inc.
and then on the surface chemistry of organic pigment
s, he studied for a PhD
at Goethe University
in gas-liquid chromatography
, a method of separating volatile materials for chemical analysis. He applied his knowledge of chemical engineering
science to improving the technology, and developed support-coated open tubular (SCOT) columns which were widely used until supplanted by further developments in capillary columns. He continued to be involved in developments in gas-liquid chromatography
in his later career.
However, it was while at Harvard Medical School
and Yale School of Medicine
that he appreciated the need for analytical separation of biological compounds which could not be vaporized, and this led to the application of his particular understanding of separation processes to vastly improve the performance of liquid chromatography
. Thus was created High performance liquid chromatography
or HPLC, a technique which became a major field of study (and in which he remained a leading figure), and continued to publish till shortly before his death.
Together with Dr. Imre Molnar and Wayne Melander he developed the framework for describing retention mechanisms in reversed phase chromatography (RPLC), employing the framework of the solvophobic theory. As HPLC and RPLC became the preeminent techniques associated with biochemical analysis, many have suggested that Csaba Horvath inexplicably missed inclusion in the ranks of Nobel laureates. He worked on other methods of analytical separation of biological materials, notably electrophoresis
and displacement chromatography
, but also was influential in developing biochemical engineering
within the Chemical Engineering Department at Yale
.
He published about 300 papers and held 9 patents. He was a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. He received many other honors and awards and is remembered in the Horváth Laboratory of Separation Science at Innsbruck
.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
chemical engineer
Chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...
, particularly noted for building the first high performance liquid chromatograph
High performance liquid chromatography
High-performance liquid chromatography , HPLC, is a chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the mixture.HPLC typically utilizes different types of stationary...
.
Life
Csaba Horváth was born in SzolnokSzolnok
Szolnok is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. Its location on the banks of the Tisza river, at the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain, has made it an important cultural and economic crossroads for centuries....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and graduated in chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
from the Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
Institute of Technology
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics , in hungarian abbreviated as BME, English official abbreviation BUTE, is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is also one of the oldest Institutes of Technology in the world, having been founded in 1782.-History:BME is...
. In 1956 he went to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
to work for Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...
. He then studied physical chemistry
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
at the J.W. Goethe University
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
The Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University, which means that, while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt am Main, a unique feature in German university history...
in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, receiving his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1963. The same year he married Valeria Scioscioli in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and they emigrated to the USA. He joined the Physics Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
. The couple had two daughters.
In 1964 he joined Yale School of Medicine
Yale School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine at Yale University is a private medical school located in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. It was founded in 1810 as The Medical Institution of Yale College, and formally opened its doors in 1813....
. From 1967 he also had an appointment in the Faculty of Engineering. In 1972 he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, becoming full Professor in 1979 and Chair of the Department from 1987 to 1993. He was named as Roberto Goizueta
Roberto Goizueta
Roberto Críspulo Goizueta was Chairman, Director, and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company from August 1980 until his death in October 1997....
Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1998. He died on 13 April 2004, at Yale-New Haven Hospital
Yale-New Haven Hospital
Yale-New Haven Hospital , Connecticut's largest hospital with 966 beds, is located in New Haven, Connecticut.The hospital is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System, Inc...
of a stroke.
Professor Horvath had an abiding interest in the advancement of the careers of young scientists, and has been memorialized by the establishment of the Csaba Horvath Young Scientist Award for the best presentation by a scientist under the age of 35 at the International Symposium on High Performance Liquid Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC) meeting. The award is sponsored by HPLC, Inc.
Work
Having worked in industry in the pilot plant of Farbwerke Hoechst AGHoechst AG
Hoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...
and then on the surface chemistry of organic pigment
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
s, he studied for a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at Goethe University
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
The Goethe University Frankfurt was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University, which means that, while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt am Main, a unique feature in German university history...
in gas-liquid chromatography
Gas-liquid chromatography
Gas chromatography , is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analysing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture...
, a method of separating volatile materials for chemical analysis. He applied his knowledge of chemical engineering
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...
science to improving the technology, and developed support-coated open tubular (SCOT) columns which were widely used until supplanted by further developments in capillary columns. He continued to be involved in developments in gas-liquid chromatography
Gas-liquid chromatography
Gas chromatography , is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analysing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture...
in his later career.
However, it was while at Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
and Yale School of Medicine
Yale School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine at Yale University is a private medical school located in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. It was founded in 1810 as The Medical Institution of Yale College, and formally opened its doors in 1813....
that he appreciated the need for analytical separation of biological compounds which could not be vaporized, and this led to the application of his particular understanding of separation processes to vastly improve the performance of liquid chromatography
Chromatography
Chromatography is the collective term for a set of laboratory techniques for the separation of mixtures....
. Thus was created High performance liquid chromatography
High performance liquid chromatography
High-performance liquid chromatography , HPLC, is a chromatographic technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and analytical chemistry to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the mixture.HPLC typically utilizes different types of stationary...
or HPLC, a technique which became a major field of study (and in which he remained a leading figure), and continued to publish till shortly before his death.
Together with Dr. Imre Molnar and Wayne Melander he developed the framework for describing retention mechanisms in reversed phase chromatography (RPLC), employing the framework of the solvophobic theory. As HPLC and RPLC became the preeminent techniques associated with biochemical analysis, many have suggested that Csaba Horvath inexplicably missed inclusion in the ranks of Nobel laureates. He worked on other methods of analytical separation of biological materials, notably electrophoresis
Electrophoresis
Electrophoresis, also called cataphoresis, is the motion of dispersed particles relative to a fluid under the influence of a spatially uniform electric field. This electrokinetic phenomenon was observed for the first time in 1807 by Reuss , who noticed that the application of a constant electric...
and displacement chromatography
Displacement Chromatography
Displacement chromatography is a chromatography technique in which a sample is placed onto the head of the column and is then displaced by a solute that is more strongly sorbed than the components of the original mixture. The result is that the components are resolved into consecutive ...
, but also was influential in developing biochemical engineering
Biochemical engineering
Biochemical engineering is a branch of chemical engineering or biological engineering that mainly deals with the design and construction of unit processes that involve biological organisms or molecules, such as bioreactors...
within the Chemical Engineering Department at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
.
He published about 300 papers and held 9 patents. He was a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. He received many other honors and awards and is remembered in the Horváth Laboratory of Separation Science at Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
.
Sources
- L. S. Ettre (2004) American Laboratory, May 2004, pages 4-6 In memoriam: Csaba Horváth
- A. Guttman (2000) American Laboratory, June 2000, pages 6-10 Happy Birthday Csaba Horváth
- The Hungary Page Nobel Prize Winners and Famous Hungarians: Science, Mathematics & Technology
- Yale news of his death
- Speeches at his remembrance Service
- Claudia Flavell-White The Chemical Engineer October 2010 pp 54-55 "Degrees of Separation: Chemical Engineers who Changed the World - Csaba Horváth"
- An Introduction to Separation Science, (1973) B.L. Karger, Cs. Horváth and L.R. Snyder, Wiley