Eugene Houdry was trained as a mechanical engineer in France and spent the first thirty-eight years of his life in that country. There he worked in his father's steel plant and ultimately became interested in the development of catalysts for use in a variety of industrial processes. In 1930 Houdry came to the United States and refined a process for the conversion of crude oil products to high-quality gasoline that he had first begun in France. Some observers credit the Houdry process of catalytic cracking with providing the Allies with a decisive technological edge that allowed them to win World War II. Later in life Houdry turned his attention to the development of catalysts that would reduce the amount of pollution produced by internal combustion engines.

Eugene Jules Houdry was born in Domont, France, near Paris, on April 18, 1892. His parents were the former Emilie Thais Julie Lemaire and Jules...