Week 4

Week 4: Jan. 22 – 28 (Archive)

• Born in 1822, Henri Erni was a teacher of chemistry, U.S. consul in Switzerland.
• Born in 1917, William D. McElroy discovered the enzyme that makes fireflies glow; Head of National Science Foundation (1969-1972).
• Born in 1936, Alan J. Heeger shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2000) with Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hidaki Shirakawa "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers."

• Born in 1796, Karl K. Klaus discovered ruthenium (Ru,44) in 1844; pioneer in platinum chemistry.
• Born in 1872, Paul Langevin was a researcher on X-rays and magnetism.
• Born in 1876, Otto Paul Hermann Diels developed the diene synthesis and practical method for making ring compounds from chain compounds (Diels-Alder Reaction); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1950) with Kurt Alder "for their discovery and development of the diene synthesis."
• Born in 1918, Gertrude B. Elion was a researcher on the synthesis and development of therapeutic agents; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1988) with James W. Black and George H. Hitching "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment."
• Born in 1929, John C. Polanyi is a researcher who uses infrared chemiluminescence to follow the excited reaction products; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1986) with Dudley R. Hershbach and Yuan T. Lee "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes."

• Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill in northern California, setting off the '49er gold rush (1848).
• Born in 1872, Morris W. Travers codiscovered Krypton (Kr, 36), neon (Ne, 10), xenon (Xe, 54) in 1898 with W. Ramsay; researcher on low temperature.
• Beer first sold in cans (1935).
• B. B. Cunningham and co-workers made first reported observation of absorption spectrum of compound of einsteinium (Es, 99) at University of California, Berkeley (1966).

• Born in 1627, Robert Boyle defined an element; discovered Boyle's law; suggested use of alcohol as biological preservative.
• Martin H. Klaproth reported to the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1798) the discovery of a new element by M. von Reichenstein in 1782 and named it tellurium (Te, 52).
• Born in 1865, William D. Horne was an innovator in refining and manufacturing sugar.
• Born in 1917, Ilya Prigogine was a researcher in irreversible processes; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1977) "for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures."
• Born in 1923, Arvid Carlsson shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2000) with Paul Greengard and Eric R. Kandel "for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system."

• Born in 1881, Claude S. Hudson was a researcher in chemistry of sugars; ACS award in Carbohydrate Chemistry named for him.
• Niels Bohr reported the discovery of nuclear fission by O. Hahn and F. Strassmann at Fifth Washington Conference on Theoretical Chemistry (1939).

• F. August KekulÉ presented his benzene structure to SociÉtÉ Chimique, Paris (1865).
• Born in 1870, Louis A. Kahlenberg was a pioneer in American physical chemistry.
• Chevron incorporated (1926).

• Born in 1843, Henry C. Bolton was a writer and bibliographer of the history of chemistry.