Awards & Scholarships

Mohamed Mortada was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1925. In 1946 he was graduated with honors from the University of Cairo with a chemical engineering degree and a petroleum refining option. After working as a petroleum refining engineer for the Anglo-Egyptian Oil Co. in Suez and as an instructor at the University of Cairo, he decided to come to the United States for further education. He, therefore, entered the University of California in 1947 to study petroleum production engineering and eventually received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in this field, with minors in fluid mechanics, mathematics, and thermodynamics.

Dr. Mortada joined General Petroleum Co. in Los Angeles in June 1952. Until that time he had never been on a derrick floor but he capably served during his training period as a roustabout, roughneck, and pumper and gauger.

In June 1953, he was given leave of absence to return to Egypt for a visit. On his way across the United States, he stopped oil for a visit at Magnolia Petroleum Co. Research Laboratory, an affiliate company of Socony Mobil Oil Co. After looking over their research operations, he knew that was the type of work he desired.

Upon his return to the United States in March 1954, he was transferred to the Dallas research organization, and soon he wrote the paper for which he was awarded the Noble Prize and the Rossiter W. Raymond Memorial Award. Dr. Mortada has been a member of AIME since 1950.