Week 28

Week 28: July 9 – 15 (Archive)

• Ford Motor Company incorporated in 1919.

• Kurt Alder, born 1902, developed diene synthesis; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1950).
• Harry N. Holmes, born 1879, crystallized Vitamin A.

• William R. Grove, born 1811, created forerunner of modern fuel cells (“gas voltaic battery”).
• Theodore Harold Maiman, born 1927, invented the first operable laser.

• Claude Bernard, born 1813, discovered glycogen (1855); researched digestion of food and formation of glycogen in liver; demonstrated glycogen begins in stomach and continues in intestine.
• George Eastman, born 1854, invented Kodak and transparent film, Kodak camera (1888), daylight loading film (1891), color film (1928).
• George Washington Carver, born 1864, isolated and synthesized more than 400 products from peanuts and sweet potatoes.
• William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers discovered xenon (Xe, 54) in 1898.
• Elias J. Corey, born 1928, researched organic chemical synthesis; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1990).
• First atomic-powered merchant ship was launched in 1959.

• Stanislao Cannizzaro, born 1826, convinced chemists of Avogadro's hypothesis; researched organic chemistry; produced benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid from benzaldehyde.

• Jean-Baptiste A. Dumas, born 1800, isolated anthracene from coal tar (1831); researched composition of water and vapor density; made accurate measurements of atomic weights.
• Edward R. Weidlein, born 1887, invented hydrometallurgical processes for treatment of low-grade copper ores.
• Paul Walden, born 1863, conducted research on electrical conductivity and electrolytic dissociation; discovered Walden inversion.
• Geoffrey Wilkinson, born 1921, researched transition metal complexes; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1973).

• Albert Ghiorso, born 1915, researched transuranic elements; codiscovered americium (Am, 95), curium (Cm, 96), berkelium (Bk, 97), californium (Cf, 98), einsteinium (Es, 99), fermium (Fm, 100), mendelevium (Md, 101), nobelium (No, 102), lawrencium (Lr, 103), rutherfordium (Rf, 104) seaborgium (Sg, 106) and element 105.
• Robert B. Merrifield, born 1921, developed solid-phase peptide synthesis; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1984).