Roger W.H. Sargent (1926–2018) was an unprecedented pioneer who foresaw the role that mathematical and computational tools would have in chemical engineering. His visionary work created the multidisciplinary field of Process Systems Engineering (PSE), a field that acts as a central hub influencing all subfields of chemical engineering. His particular interest in optimal control applied to industrial processes led him to develop numerical techniques to solve large-scale optimal control problems. In this work, a brief overview of the theory of optimal control is offered, spanning from its roots in calculus of variations to Pontryagin’s maximum principle and some of its extensions. Furthermore, important contributions made by Sargent and his students are presented. Selected applications currently found in literature are presented as well–ranging from classical chemical engineering systems to bioprocesses. Some future perspectives of the field are also presented in the concluding section.

Roger WH Sargent (1926–2018) 是一位史无前例的先驱，他预见了数学和计算工具在化学工程中的作用。他富有远见的工作创造了过程系统工程 (PSE) 的多学科领域，该领域充当影响化学工程所有子领域的中心枢纽。他对应用于工业过程的优化控制特别感兴趣，这使他开发了解决大规模优化控制问题的数值技术。在这项工作中，对最优控制理论进行了简要概述，从其变分演算的根源到庞特里亚金的最大值原理及其一些扩展。此外，还介绍了萨金特和他的学生所做的重要贡献。目前在文献中发现的选定应用也被介绍了——从经典的化学工程系统到生物过程。结论部分还介绍了该领域的一些未来前景。