John Ugelstad

John Ugelstad (31 March 1921 – 3 April 1997) was a Norwegian chemical engineer and inventor, known for discovering a process to manufacture monodisperse micropellets or microbeads and dynabeads. He was a professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology and consultant for DuPont.

Early life and education Ugelstad was born in Trondheim to Karen Stene (1898-1993) and Petter Endresen Ugelstad (1893-1975), a factory owner. He grew up and attended school in Trondheim. After graduating in 1941 he began to study chemistry at Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH); the German occupation of Trondheim during World War II delayed his studies and he passed the engineering exam in 1948.

Career

After a few years in business, he worked a few years at Philips Group's research department in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and obtained a PhD at the University of Leiden in 1955. He was employed by SINTEF and since 1957 by the Institute of Industrial Chemistry at NTH. During a sabbatical in Norwegian's research department from 1964 to 1965, he was the brains behind a new and epochal theory of emulsion polymerization which replaced the former and well-established theories and was dominated the field. This work was in practice as important as the monodisperse spheres. He said that he always thought best at night and one late hour in 1977 an idea occurred to him. When he realized how easy it was to manufacture the tiny particles (15 million of them weigh a milligram, and the spheres are similar almost to microglobules in milk), he thought others would also discover the method. Therefore, he patented it. The patent application concerned a method for producing polymer particles in a two-stage treatment dissolved in water, where they can absorb more than 1,000 times their own volume of water-soluble organisms.

Personal life

Ugelstad married artist Viola Kristine Rigstad (7 May 1922 - 27 Jan 2017) on 25 January 1948, who was the daughter of Karl Rigstad, a miner, (1896-1973) and Hanna Kristine Villiksdatter Sommervold (1896-1969).

Ugelstad said about his own work: "My work has been like an obsession. I am a slave of my work, but love slavery. A researcher's life consists of disappointments and joys. Sometimes it seems all hope out there, other times solutions come as gifts from heaven. When you feel gratitude, as a select. Research is a fascinating business with incredible opportunities for travel and discovery in an unexplored world."