Week 35

Week 35: Aug. 27 – Sep. 2 (Archive)

August 27

  • Carl Bosch, born 1874, researched chemical reactions at high pressure; commercially produced ammonia; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1931).
  • Edwin Drake discovered petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859.
  • Martin Kamen, born 1913, codicovered carbon-14 (1940).

August 28

  • George H. Whipple, born 1878, conducted research on pernicious anemia and diabetes; Nobel Prize in Medicine (1934).

August 29

  • Hermann J. P. Sprengel, born 1834, researched discharge tubes; invented vacuum pump.
  • First atom of element 109 (meitnerium) was observed at GSI Laboratory, Darmstadt, Germany, in 1982.

August 30

  • Jacobus H. van't Hoff, born 1852, proposed tetrahedral carbon; conducted research on physical chemistry of reaction velocity, thermodynamics, and theory of dilute solutions; the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1901).
  • Ernest Rutherford, born 1871, formulated theory of radioactive decay (1903), discovered atomic nucleus (1911), made first nuclear transmutation (1919); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1908).
  • Theodor Svedberg, born 1884, conducted research on ultracentrifuge for determining molecular weights and sizes of proteins; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1926).

August 31

  • Michel E. Chevreul, born 1786, conducted research on dyes and physics of color; discovered stearin and margarine.
  • Frederick A. Paneth, born 1887, conducted research on age of rocks by measuring helium formed.

September 1

  • Carl Auer von Welsbach, born 1858, researched rare earths; invented incandescent mantle; in 1885, discovered neodymium (Nd, 60) and praseodymium (Pr, 59); in 1907 codiscovered lutetium (Lu, 71).
  • B. Smith Hopkins, born 1873, conducted research on rare earths.
  • Francis W. Aston, born 1877, introduced mass spectrograph (1919); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1922).
  • Rohm & Haas Company founded in 1909.

September 2

  • Wilhelm Ostwald, born 1853, researched affinity, mass action, theories of solutions, and conductivity (Ostwald's law of dilution and conductivity); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1909).
  • Frederick Soddy, born 1877, discovered displacement law of radioactive change; researcher in radioactivity and isotopes; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1921).