Dr. Frank Carl Vilbrandt was one of the pioneers of Chemical Engineering.  He not only founded the Chemical Engineering Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, but he also wrote a textbook that would be used for over 20 years in both university classrooms and industries.  Educated in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Ohio State University, Professor Vilbrandt earned the B. A. in 1915, the M. A. in 1916, and the Ph. D. (in Chemical Engineering) in 1919.

Dr. Vilbrandt was dedicated to his work and was always energetic when working.  At the same time, he was equally dedicated to his family and always had time and energy for them.

Dr. Vilbrandt was born on August 12, 1893, in Fostoria, Ohio, the ninth of 14 children.  His father was a tailor and worked hard to support his large family.  Both of Dr. Vilbrandt’s parents, Henrietta (Papenfus) and Ferdinand Albert Vilbrandt, were native Germans who came to the United States when they were children.  His father died when he was 11 years old, and he subsequently helped his mother set up and run a boarding house.  Her abilities as a housekeeper were unquestionable, but she was unable to read or write English so she desperately needed her children to help her as landlord.

Vilbrandt and Magdelene Ohm were married in 1916, the year he earned his master’s degree.  He worked as a junior chemist for the United States Bureau of Standards from 1916 to 1917.  After receiving his Ph. D. from Ohio State University, he worked there for a while as an instructor of Industrial Chemistry and he also worked as an Assistant Engineer for Continental Sugar Company. 

His career in the industrial community was short-lived, however, and in 1921 Dr. (Doc) Vilbrandt accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Industrial Chemistry at the University of North Carolina.  Seven years later he was promoted to Professor of Industrial Chemistry.  While at Chapel Hill, he did research on North Carolina shales, mercerization of cotton and surface studies of glass.  He also wrote a series of papers on the chemical industry in North Carolina.  One portion of that series dealt with the processing and utilization of shrimp waste for fertilizer and feed stock.  Background for the shrimp project was gained in the summer of 1928 when he was Field Chief of the United States Bureau of Fisheries Experimental Station in Brunswick, Georgia.

Besides being remembered for his research at Chapel Hill, he is also remembered as being a strict disciplinarian.  Some of his students at UNC remember breaking into laboratories to finish projects or complete classwork.  Unlike his peers, Doc locked the doors of his laboratories at closing time.  Doc was a firm believer that students should learn some things on their own and not be “spoon-fed.”  He demanded quality work done on time.  Former students always gave a rough description of Doc, but there was always a respectful and admiring tone in their voices when describing, with a bit of pride, how they had endured his regimen.

In 1930, Doc Vilbrandt moved to Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, as Professor of Chemical Engineering and as Chemical Engineer at the Iowa Engineering Station.  His work at the experiment station dealt with the design, commercial development and operation of processes for agricultural wastes.  While at Ames, Vilbrandt’s textbook, “Chemical Engineering Plant Design” was published by McGraw-Hill Book Company in 1934 as a title in the Chemical Engineering Series of textbooks.  Because of the popularity of the book and Doc’s many other advances in the field of Chemical Engineering, Ohio State University awarded him a special degree of Chemical Engineer in 1935.

1935 also found Dr. Vilbrandt leaving Iowa and joining the Virginia Polytechnic Institute as Professor and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering in Blacksburg.  At that time chemical engineering was still a part of the Chemistry Department.  One of Doc’s first projects was to separate chemical engineering into a standalone department.  That entailed the construction of an addition to the rear of Davidson Hall (the Chemistry building) to house laboratories and classrooms for the fledging department.  Years later, when a new engineering building (Randolph Hall) was constructed, Chemical Engineering’s far-flung laboratories and offices were centralized there.  As a man of great physical energy, Doc was often at the construction site.  He bought new equipment for the laboratories and made some of it himself.

Vilbrandt was not, by any means, out of the research area.  He held a position of Chemical Engineer with the Virginia Engineering Experiment Station.  There he was the first to do extensive research on industrial wastes and environmental contamination.  He also dealt with coal liquefaction and food processing; the latter included studies on skim milk and freeze-dried coffee.

Doc was one of the first people to speak up about the dangers of cigarette smoking.  No smoking was allowed in his buildings.  If he saw someone smoking a cigarette in his building, he would take it away, throw it in a bucket of water, and lecture the would-be smoker on the health dangers of smoking.  Encounters between Doc and his students (any students!) were not always pleasant.

Still his peers remember him as a man who put all of his energy into all of his projects.  They remember the hard work he put into founding the Chemical Engineering Department at VPI and the good leadership he gave them while he was head of the Engineering Faculty.

Doc was both a disciplinarian and also a professor who cared a lot about those students who had potential.  From the beginning of a student’s education in Doc’s department, the student knew that Doc intended to graduate only fine chemical engineers.  Those who would make it through the program would have to work very hard and give everything their best effort.

Vilbrandt was not always what a student expected.  He was firm in his beliefs, but knowing just what those beliefs were was not always easy to discern.  Following is an excerpt from a letter written by Mr. George H. Lewis (B. Sc. Ch. E. class of 1945 & 1947).

The first personal anecdote builds on the martinet image of Doc Vilbrandt that I had carried away from V.P.I. when I left in 1943 for military service.  I can remember showing up at Doc’s office in 1946 wearing my blue navy officer’s uniform resplendent with assorted campaign ribbons.  I announced proudly that as soon as I received my discharge in 30 days I would return to my studies in Chemical Engineering.  Doc looked up from the work at his desk, allowed as how he had noticed my disappearance three years ago and guessed that I had been off fighting the war.  "A big mistake," he concluded. "You should have stayed at V.P.I., completed your education and helped your country by practicing your profession as a Chemical Engineer!" 

Somehow I controlled my anger and disappointment (in not being treated as a returning war hero) and managed to leave Doc’s office without coming to blows.

I did come back to V.P.I. to get my Ch. E. degree, however, and I learned later from Professor Fred Bull, assistant head of the Department, that Doc greeted all of his returning heroes in about the same manner!  This news didn’t dispel my anger, but it did soften the blow since I could now rather boastfully share my experience with fellow depleted egos.

 My final anecdote deals with a very personal interaction with Doc that portrays what I believe to be a truer picture of the man than the rather cold experience I have related so far.  As a result of the war interruption and V.P.I.’s trimester system, I had some last minute trouble matching the courses I needed to graduate with the class schedule being offered by the college.  My original program was to finish up most of my course work by February 1947 and devote my last semester entirely to my thesis so that I could graduate in June.  To this end I had accepted a job offer from Exxon to work at their Baton Rouge refinery immediately after graduation.  I realized to my dismay late in 1946 that I was still missing a Physical Chemistry lecture and laboratory course which I could not take until February 1947 and which would not be offered again for another year.  This change would delay my thesis until summer, and completion of this work by the end of the summer was questionable since my thesis advisor would be away from Blacksburg during the period of June-September.

The happy ending to this melodrama is that Doc Vilbrandt was aware of my dilemma and came to my rescue by offering to work with me on my thesis throughout the summer so that I could finish up by September and report for work only three months late.  Accordingly, Doc met with me for an hour each Wednesday, instead of eating lunch, to review the progress I was making in drafting my thesis report.  Due largely to his help and personal attention, I was able to complete my paper on time.  During these sessions, I certainly saw a different person than the stern, threatening and rather aloof individual I had met several years before.  Here was a concerned, sincere and even, at times, humorous individual who was willing to devote a fair amount of his own private time to my personal future.  I appreciated his efforts and benefited from them.  We never became boisterous pals, but we did reach a high level of understanding and respect.  That’s the way I’ll always remember Doc Vilbrandt.

Another of Doc’s students (Mr. Donald M. Cox, B. Sc. Ch. E. class of 1943) recalls Doc in the classroom.

“A small aside is my recollection of his way of demanding attention in class.  He would throw an eraser or chalk at someone who seemed to be daydreaming.  I also remember being scolded rather severely when I grinned at a whispered story from a student sitting next to me.”

But somehow, through all that coldness, Doc managed to teach his classes and his students really learned the subject matter.  Mr. Cox recalled again, “My recollection of what we studied and learned is still very vivid in my mind.”

Doc was of the “old school.”  He believed that young men should show respect for their elders.  Some of his students learned this the hard way!  Mr. Cox recalls, “In the war days, when the Cadet Corps marched on the President’s house to complain about food quality in the mess hall (much ado about a small thing), he was extremely upset with all who participated.”  The students had even gone so far as to burn the president in effigy.  Doc Vilbrandt first delivered a lecture on respect and self-discipline.  Then he proceeded to go down each row of the class and ask each student individually if he had participated in the protest.  Those who had participated were rewarded with extra work.  It was an extreme punishment, but it made Doc’s point.  To this day, those students who were in Doc’s class at the time remember the incident vividly.  For all his harshness, students defend him to the hilt saying that he enforced a discipline they needed and taught them what they would need to become the top executives and engineers in the field of Chemical Engineering.

That Dr. Vilbrandt loved his work as a professor is obvious.  But he did not limit his endeavors to universities.  In 1944 Doc went to Columbia University to be the Principal Engineer and Plant Manager of the Manhattan Project at that location.  His daughter, Mariellyn, recalls that he was uneasy about the atomic bomb project, but continued his work on it in hopes that it would bring a swift end to the war.

After completing his work on the Manhattan Project, Doc returned to Virginia Tech and resumed his work there.  In 1953 he was chosen to be V.P.I.’s representative to the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies (ORINS).  Dr. William P. Pollard, one of the key men at ORINS at the time, recalls how informative and helpful Doc Vilbrandt was at the meetings.  Pollard also remembers that Doc was a delightful guest to have visit.  “He was so easy to get along with.”  This description hardly fits the Doc his fellow professors knew.  Still, it shows us that Doc was a different type of person in different situations.

A side of Dr. Vilbrandt yet to be mentioned is the man he was at home.  He had four children: Charles Franklin Vilbrandt (deceased); Ruth Eloise Vilbrandt, who died while young; Mariellyn Ohm Vilbrandt Peake; and Janet Ann Vilbrandt Ahalt (deceased).  He was as devoted to his children and his wife as he was to his work.  His children remembered him as most children remember their fathers.  They recall bedtime stories and the way Dad could fix anything.  But unlike most children, their view wasn’t very exaggerated.  Doc was always able to talk to children in a way they could understand. 

As far as being able to fix anything, he could.  He was a fine plumber as is evidenced by the fact that he installed two additional bathrooms in his mother’s home during a summer visit with her in Ohio.  And he frequently built cabinets and bookshelves, not only in his own home, but also in the home of his daughter.  He even went so far as to convert an old suitcase into a fitted camera case for his son-in-law’s extensive photographic equipment. 

But, by far, his favorite hobby was gardening.  He kept a magnificent garden and helped daughter, Mariellyn, start one of her own when she moved away to live.  He had one of the finest rose gardens in the town of Blacksburg and other rose enthusiasts were occasionally invited to view his garden…but visitors were unusual.

The Vilbrandts had very few close friends.  Few were invited to the house for dinner or a card game.  Although this may appear to be a great loss to the family, it was, in fact, a plus as the family was very close and did many things together.  The children were aware of their father’s intellect because on family vacations he always seemed to know what the crops were at the side of the road, the history of the places they were going to, and even how the rocks were formed that were exposed to the mountainous roads.  To them, he was the best dad in the world.

Even after he was separated from some members of his family, he remained devoted to them and close to them as well.  He wrote his mother at least once a week, in German while she could still see, and in English after she became blind so that letters could be read to her.  When Mariellyn married and moved away from Blacksburg, he would write to her too.  When she had a daughter, he would write to her too.  Mariellyn recalls that her daughter loved getting letters from her granddaddy.  

But his strong devotion to his family made his life very difficult at one point.  In 1957, Mrs. Vilbrandt died from injuries she suffered in an automobile accident.  Her death had an immense impact on Dr. Vilbrandt.  Where there had once been an energetic and enthusiastic man, there was now a man who often stared off into the distance and was apathetic to his surroundings.  The change was so drastic that visiting former students easily recognized that something was wrong.  He slowly learned to rechannel some of his love to Janet Vilbrandt Ahalt’s children, but he never fully regained his vigor and energy.  He died on January 5, 1960 of a heart attack.  He is buried in a family plot with his wife and second child in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

Dr. Vilbrandt left his mark in many areas.  The advances he made in the field of Chemical Engineering were certainly invaluable.  As a teacher-innovator, he saw the first Ph. D. in chemical engineering awarded at the University of North Carolina to Howell Grady Pickett in 1928.  The degree was still from the Department of Chemistry.  Also, he saw the first Master’s and Ph. D. degrees awarded in the Chemical Engineering Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1939 and 1942, respectively.  His students credit much of their success to the things he taught them both about Chemical Engineering and about life.  And the fields of research that he opened are still being pursued. 

In 1976, the Frank C. Vilbrandt Professorship was inaugurated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commemorating a man whose pioneering spirit, scientific breadth, and human warmth were widely admired.

Profile by: Anne Louise Goode Coryell
Edited by: Basil C. Doumas