35 Facts About Eugene Houdry

Eugene Jules Houdry was a mechanical engineer who graduated from Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Metiers in 1911.

Eugene Houdry helped innovate catalytic cracking of petroleum feed stocks, for which he received the Perkin Medal among others.

Eugene Jules Houdry was born on April 18,1892, at Domont, France near Paris.

Eugene Houdry's parents were Jules Houdry and Emilie Thias Jule Lemaire.

Eugene Houdry's father owned a successful business that manufactured structural steel.

Eugene Houdry studied mechanical engineering at the Ecole des arts et metiers in the Paris suburb of Chalons-sur-Marne.

Eugene Houdry graduated first in his class in 1911, earning a gold medal from the French government as the highest-ranking scholar in his class.

Eugene Houdry captained his school's soccer team, winning the national championship of France in 1910.

Eugene Houdry later transferred to the army's new tank corps and took part in the first French battle to use tanks, part of the Nivelle Offensive which began on April 16,1917.

Eugene Houdry was seriously wounded in the Juvincourt sector during the Second Battle of the Aisne.

Eugene Houdry was injured while trying to organize repairs to the damaged tanks under heavy fire.

Eugene Houdry was later awarded the Croix de Guerre and was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

Eugene Houdry's hobby was road racing, and he drove a Bugatti racing car.

In 1922, Eugene Houdry visited the United States, where he saw the Indianapolis 500, and toured a Ford Motor plant in Detroit, Michigan.

On July 3,1922, Eugene Houdry married Genevieve Marie Quilleret.

In 1922, Eugene Houdry convinced Prudhomme to join him at Beauchamp and set up a fuel research laboratory under Eugene Houdry's management.

In 1924 Eugene Houdry incorporated the Societe Anonyme Francaise pour la Fabrication d'Essences et Petroles.

Eugene Houdry determined that it could be processed to obtain a purer aluminosilicate catalyst, which could be successfully regenerated under certain conditions.

Eugene Houdry was unable to get ongoing support from the French government or from French companies to produce the new fuel.

Unable to get backing for new fuels in France, Eugene Houdry turned to the United States, where his efforts were more successful.

Eugene Houdry settled in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where he formed the Houdry Process Corporation in 1931.

The first full-scale "Eugene Houdry unit" was opened in Marcus Hook in 1937.

Eugene Houdry supported General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the provisional French government in exile.

In January 1942, Eugene Houdry was granted citizenship in the United States.

Eugene Houdry supported the war effort through the development of industrial processes and fuels.

Eugene Houdry originally focused on using lignite as a feedstock, but switched to using heavy liquid tars.

Eugene Houdry diagnosed the nature of the problem and developed a method to regenerate the catalyst.

The first Eugene Houdry unit was built at Sun Oil's Marcus Hook, PA oil refinery in 1937.

Eugene Houdry later became interested in automotive catalysts, and the catalytic converter was one of approximately 100 patents that he received, but nothing came of it until the 1970s because the tetraethyl lead that was still in use in the 1950s and 1960s poisoned the catalyst.

Eugene Houdry invented a catalytic process to produce butadiene from butane gas, which was formed during crude oil production.

Eugene Houdry was concerned with possible health risks relating to automobile and industrial air pollution.

Eugene Houdry built a generic catalytic converter capable of reducing carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons from automobile exhausts.

Eugene Houdry was awarded honorary degrees from Pennsylvania Military College in 1940 and Grove City College in 1943.

Eugene Houdry died on July 18,1962, at Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania at the age of 70.

Eugene Houdry was survived by his sons and his wife, Genevieve Quilleret.