Dirk Willem van Krevelen (8 November 1914, Rotterdam – 27 October 2001, Arnhem) was a prominent Dutch chemical engineer, coal and polymer scientist.
[1] He is the author of numerous scientific publications and several classic monographs, amongst which are Coal: Typology, Chemistry, Physics, Constitution and Properties of Polymers: Correlations with Chemical Structure.
[1] As of 1937, van Krevelen was employed as one of these assistants to Professor Waterman, and worked on three topics: the chemical thermodynamics of oil hydrocarbons, the polymerization of ethylene, as part of attempts to improve the anti-knock properties of gasoline, and the induced pyrolysis of methane.
Yet he managed to help Dirk van Krevelen to obtain a research position in the newly created Central Laboratory of the Dutch State Mines (DSM) starting from 1940.
[1] In 1959, van Krevelen left DSM and joined the Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU; General Rayon Union), a polymer company.