Remembering Leon J. Rubin

The 100th anniversary of his birth - this November 22 - is an opportune time to remember Leon J. Rubin, a remarkable alum.

Rubin graduated as a chemical engineer from the Department in 1938, where a year later he obtained his Master’s degree. He then joined the Department as an instructor where he taught for six years and was in charge of the analytical and general chemistry program.

During this time he continued his postgraduate studies in the Department of Chemistry under Professor H.O.L. Fischer where he obtained his doctorate in the field of natural products (glyceryl ethers) in 1945.

In this same year, Rubin joined the staff of the Research Centre of Canada Packers Inc. He first worked on the synthesis of steroidal hormones and vitamin D. However, he was soon appointed Director of Research and held that post until January 1979.

Under his direction the Research Centre became Canada’s leading food laboratory and a world leader in research and development of food and industrial biological processes. With a staff of 85, it was the central research laboratory of Canada Packers and dealt with the main areas of the company’s business - meats, edible oils, general packing house processing, animal feeds, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

On his retirement in January 1979, he rejoined our Department as Professor Emeritus and initiated the program in Food Engineering. Rubin was shortly joined by Levente Diosady, who became the professor of Food Engineering. They collaborated in setting up courses in food engineering and industrial biological processes, as well as established an active research program resulting in 53 papers and 19 patents. Read more.

November 13, 2013

In this issue:

Departmental Offices
Announcements
Chem Eng Events

Departmental Offices

Announcements

Special Lecture and Meet-and-Greet
On Thursday, November 21 at 3pm in SF1105, Dr. Tuyen Tran from Intel's Technology Development Division will be giving a special talk on the history of transistor scaling at Intel, the future of Moore's Law, as well as Intel's research, development and manufacturing methodology and silicon technology leadership. Professors and grad students interested in meeting Dr. Tran after the lecture should email tony.chan.carusone@isl.utoronto.ca

Ace the Interview
ILead ChemE will be hosting its Ace the Interview event on Wednesday, November 27 from 5:30-8pm. The group is looking for a few volunteers to help students participating in the event with their interviewing skills. If you are interested in volunteering, please email cecilia.konney@utoronto.ca by Monday, November 18.

WHMIS Online Course
All individuals who could not attend the in-person WHMIS training on Monday, October 7 must complete the online course (including quiz) by Saturday, November 30. For more details, email leticia.gutierrez@utoronto.ca

Graduate Research Weekend Registration
To assist in planning, professors interested in participating in Graduate Research Weekend (Jan 31-Feb 2, 2014), should register online at their earliest convenience.

Follow Us Through Facebook, Twitter and Flickr

CHEM ENG NEWS is a weekly summary of news, events and opportunities for students, faculty and staff of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. If you have questions or comments, please contact: external.chemeng@utoronto.ca. Catch up on missed issues by visiting our archive.