The first edition was published in 1960, two years after having been preliminarily published under the title Notes on Transport Phenomena based on mimeographed notes prepared for a chemical engineering course taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the academic year 1957-1958.
The theories of mass, momentum and energy transfer were being taught at that time only to the extent necessary for a narrow range of applications.
As chemical engineers began moving into a number of new areas, problem definitions and solutions required a deeper knowledge of the fundamentals of transport phenomena than those provided in the textbooks then available on unit operations.
In the 1950s, R. Byron Bird, Warren E. Stewart and Edwin N. Lightfoot stepped forward to develop an undergraduate course at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to integrate the teaching of fluid flow, heat transfer, and diffusion.
There are many reasons in this regard; The second edition has been revised many times despite the fact that there are still many defects and typographical errors in many parts of the book.