Rudolf (Rolf) George Herman Prince: 1986–1987

Rolf Prince was born in Chemnitz in Germany in 1928 and was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School in Christchurch, New Zealand before going on to study chemical engineering and chemistry at Canterbury University College of the University of New Zealand, from where he graduated in 1949.

He then lectured in chemical engineering at the University of Sydney for the next four years (1950-1953) before moving to the UK and joining Distillers as a process engineer at their Research & Development Department at Epsom, Surrey. He was awarded his PhD in1957 and the following year returned to New Zealand as a lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch.

Two years later in 1960 Rolf Prince moved to Australia and became Senior Lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Sydney, before being appointed Professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane in 1965. In 1969 he returned to the University of Sydney, this time as Professor of Chemical Engineering and Head of Department.

He was closely involved with IChemE activities in Australia, having been Chairman of the Australian National Committee from 1973-1975. From 1977-1985 he was also an Associate Editor of the Transactions (later known as Chemical Engineering Research & Design (ChERD)). In addition to his involvement with the Institution, his other professional activities led to him being a director of the Chemical Engineering Foundation and a member of the Council of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, both at the University of Sydney. Within the Institution of Engineers Australia he was a member of the National Committee on Control and Computation (1973-1983) and a member of the National Committee on Fuels and Energy (1980-1985). In 1985 he was Chairman of the Board of Chemical Engineers and during that same year he was also Chairman of the New South Wales Committee of the Australian Institute of Petroleum.