Papers of Dudley A. Saville

Dudley A. Saville (1933-2006) was an American chemical engineer and a noted authority on electrohydrodynamics and colloid science. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 23, 1933, Saville earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1954, then briefly worked as a development engineer for Union Carbide Corporation (1954-1955). He joined the United States Air Force in 1955, where he served as a jet pilot and a radar intercept instructor.

Upon his discharge from the military in 1958, Saville returned to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he received his master’s degree in chemical engineering (1959). After working a short spell with Chevron Oil Company in Richmond, California (1959-1961), he continued his education at the University of Michigan, where he received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1966. Upon receiving his doctorate, he went to work for Shell Development Corporation in Emeryville, California (1966-1968).

In 1968, Saville joined the faculty of Princeton University’s Department of Chemical Engineering as an assistant professor. He went on to enjoy an illustrious career at Princeton, reaching the rank of professor in 1977 and eventually being appointed Stephen C. Macaleer Chair in Chemical Engineering in 2003. At Princeton, Saville became a recognized authority on electrohydrodynamics and colloid science. In the course of his research, he invented dielectric spectroscopy, which measured the surface charge of colloidal particles. He also developed the Dynamic Stern Layer model for the interpretation of electrokinetic movements. In 1992, Saville began a productive collaboration with Princeton colleague Ilhan Aksay, in which they used electrohydrodynamics to assemble and pattern colloidal crystals and other submicron phases. This collaboration led to the publication of a number of influential papers in Science, Nature, and Physical Review Letters.

In addition to his work at Princeton, Saville worked for NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) as a consultant. During the mid-1970s, he was an advisor to NASA’s Microgravity Sciences Program. Later, he was a member of NASA’s Advisory Committee on Space Sciences in the Twenty-First Century. In 1996, Saville’s ALEX liquid bridges experiment was launched on the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Saville was the author or co-author of over 110 scientific journal articles. He was also co-author of the textbooks Colloidal Dispersions (1989) and Dynamics of Electrophoresis (1992). Saville was the recipient of several awards, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Alpha Chi Sigma Award (1997) and his election to the National Academy of Engineering (2003). He was also awarded several patents.

Dudley A. Saville died of cancer on October 4, 2006 at his home in Princeton, New Jersey. He was survived by his wife Joy, a son Alex, a daughter Andrea Saville White, a sister, and a grandson.

Sources

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine - Memorial Tributes - Dudley A. Saville | Memorial Tributes: Volume 12 | The National Academies Press (nap.edu)

Papers of Dudley A. Saville, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.