Felix Johan (of Johannes) Tromp, chemist, was the son of Jacobus Johann Tromp and Catharina Elizabeth Gregory. He passed the matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1908, continued his studies at Grey University College, Bloemfontein, and was awarded the BA degree with honours in chemistry by the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1912. Subsequently he went to the United Kingdom and obtained a BA degree at Cambridge University. Returning to South Africa he appears to have joined the staff of the Transvaal University College in Pretoria. He was awarded the degree Doctor of Science (DSc) in chemistry by the University of South Africa (successor to the University of the Cape of Good Hope) in 1919, with a thesis entitled The utilisation of Saldanha Bay phosphates. Two years later he was granted a United States patent for "a process for the concentration and/or sizing of mineral particles" (1921). A few years later he contributed three articles to the South African Journal of Industries: "A study on brak soils in the Transvaal" (1922, with J. B. Osborne), "Corundum wheels and tools" (1924, with A. J. van Tonder) and "Limestone from the Alexandria district" (1924).

By 1933 Tromp was teaching at the University of Pretoria (formerly the Transvaal University College) where he attained the rank of professor. His most important publications were three papers in the Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa: "A note on the determination of chromium in chromite" (1935), "The application of the phase rule to systems containing distant phases" (1935) and "Symposium: Problems arising out of temperature and humidity in deep mining on the Witwatersrand" (1936). During World War II (1939-1945) he served as director of the Fuel Research Institute from 1941 to 1946.

Tromp became a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1917. In 1933, when the association held its annual congress in Barberton, he served as secretary of Section B, which included chemistry. At that time he was a member also of the South African Chemical Institute. He participated to some extent in the early archaeological investigations at Mapungubwe during the nineteen-thirties and in collaboration with C. van Riet Lowe* drew a sketch indicating a rock shelter near the site.

In April 1919 Tromp married Kathleen Hardy Roberts, with whom he had three sons and two daughters.

List of sources:

British 1820 Settlers to South Africa: Felix Johan Tromp. Retrieved on 28 March 2022 from https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I57751&tree=master

FamilySearch: Felix Johannes Tromp. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LYXY-8HW/felix-johannes-tromp-1893-1970

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by F. J. Tromp.

Hall, A. L. A bibliography of South African geology for the years 1921 to 1925. Pretoria: Geological Survey Memoir No. 25, 1927.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Felix Johan Tromp.

Process for the manufacture of phosphatic fertilizer. Retrieved on 28 March 2022 from https://patents.google.com/patent/US1372051

ResearchGate: Sketch by F. J. Tromp and C. van Riet Lowe indicating a rock shelter near Mapungubwe. Retrieved on 28 March 2022 from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Sketch-by-FJ-Tromp-and-C-van-Riet-Lowe-1934-indicating-a-rock-shelter-near_fig3_339044615

South African Chemical Institute. Proceedings and list of members, 1933-1934.

South African Journal of Science, 1918, Vol. 15, List of members.

South African Journal of Science, 1937, Vol. 34, pp. xiii-xix. Presidents and secretaries of the sections.

Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (SESA). Cape Town: NASOU, 1970-1976).

Union Catalogue of theses and dissertations of South African Universities, 1918-1984.

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1817-1918.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-01-24 09:47:19