ACS President: Charles H. Herty (1867-1938)

Served as President: 1915 and 1916

While a chemistry professor in 1892, promoted collegiate athletics including creating, and coaching, the first varsity football team at the University of Georgia

The latter part of his life was devoted to conserving and developing the natural resources of the southern states

Education:

  • Ph.D., 1890, Johns Hopkins University, Inorganic Chemistry

Career Highlights:

  • Instructor then Adjunct Professor, Chemistry, University of Georgia, 1891 – 1902
  • Chemist, Chattanooga Pottery Co., 1904 – 1905, invented turpentine cup
  • Professor of chemistry, University of North Carolina, 1905 – 1916
  • Dean of Applied Science, University of North Carolina, 1908 – 1911
  • First Full-time Editor, Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1916-1921
  • Founder, Savannah Paper and Pulp Laboratory, Savannah, Georgia, 1930-1938, developed the first feasible process for pulp conversion into paper

Notable Accomplishments:

  • As editor of Journal of Industrial Engineering Chemistry, he tried to make the American chemical industry independent
  • Chair of the committee which wrote the report “The Future Progress of American Medicine in the Age of Chemistry”

Major Awards and Honors:

The Charles Herty Medal has been sponsored in his honor by the Georgia Section of the ACS for over 75 years and is presented to a chemist working in the South

Service to Science:

  • Integral in the promotion and passage of the Ransdell bill which established the National Institute of Health, 1930
  • Founder and President, Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers’ Association, 1921

Did You Know

. . . that he first invented the “cup” for collecting turpentine from pine trees, later developing and manufacturing the cup in ceramic form with Chattanooga Pottery Co., and this left him financially secure?

. . . that he continually campaigned for a strong protective tariff to save the chemical industries that had arisen during WWI?