Statement of President Shirley Ann Jackson on the Passing of Hendrick C. Van Ness

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing November 6 of Dr. Hendrick C. Van Ness. Known to colleagues and students as “Hank,” Dr. Van Ness spent more than 50 years at Rensselaer — teaching, researching, and updating his timeless and much-celebrated chemical thermodynamics textbook. He will be dearly missed.

Dr. Van Ness joined the faculty of Rensselaer in 1956, and in 1983 was named Institute Professor of Chemical Engineering. He retired in 1989, but maintained an office in the Ricketts Building and was active as Professor Emeritus, never passing up an opportunity to lend a hand or learn something new. Known to colleagues on campus and internationally for his passion, intellect, approachability, and capacity to inspire others, Dr. Van Ness was truly an embodiment of our Institute motto, “Knowledge and Thoroughness.”

A prolific researcher and writer, Dr. Van Ness was widely known and respected as coauthor of Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. In its seventh edition, translated into several languages, and in print for more than half a century, this textbook is the best-selling title in the history of chemical engineering. Rarely has an educator touched the lives of so many students. 

Dr. Van Ness spoke often of this book, one of several he authored, and how the original 1949 edition shared little actual content with the most recent incarnation of the work. The underlying philosophy, however, which emphasized student understanding and clarity as imperative, remains unchanged. It was this same goal that was shaping what would be the eighth edition of Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, on which, even just a few weeks ago, Dr. Van Ness continued to work.

Those lucky enough to work with Dr. Van Ness knew immediately that he was an engineer through and through. His “commandments of experimentation” decreed that tests should be elegant and intuitive in design, and that collecting data should be speedy, practical, and painless. These dicta guided his own research, and are virtues that he passed on to his Rensselaer students and others who read his books. The late Dr. Michael Abbott, a student of Dr. Van Ness who eventually became a Rensselaer faculty member, was a frequent collaborator of Dr. Van Ness and co-authored several editions of Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. 

A pianist who loved to play Mozart and Chopin, Dr. Van Ness was also an avid golfer and vegetable gardener. He was born in 1924 in Manhattan, and his family history is tied to that of our Rensselaer. It is of note that his 17th-century ancestor, Hendrick Van Ness, was one of the original inhabitants to lease land from Kiliaen Van Rensselaer in what would become New York’s Capital Region. A descendant of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Stephen, went on to found our Institute. 

After earning a bachelor’s degree in 1944 and master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1946 from the University of Rochester, Dr. Van Ness worked as a classroom teacher instructing returning war veterans.

He went on to earn his doctorate in chemical engineering in 1953 from Yale University. The primary research focus of Dr. Van Ness, during his 33 active years at Rensselaer, was the measurement and analysis of thermodynamic data, and the thermodynamic properties of liquid mixtures.

Dr. Van Ness was a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and received the AIChE Warren K. Lewis Award in 1988 for distinguished and continuing contributions to chemical engineering education. In recognition of his contributions to chemical thermodynamics, he was elected by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry to present the distinguished Rossini Lecture — the first engineer to ever receive this honor. 

Annually since 1991, the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer has honored a rising star in the field with the Van Ness Award, named in his honor.

Dr. Van Ness will be greatly missed by the Rensselaer community, his colleagues, the chemical engineering community, and generations of engineers who read and were inspired by his words and works.

He is survived by a son, Kirk Van Ness, of Brimfield, Mass.

At the request of Dr. Van Ness, no services are planned.