C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

Noyes Laboratory:
One Hundred Years of Chemistry

A Century of Accomplishment
The Bare Facts
Nobel Prize Winners
ACS Presidents
Priestley Medal Winner

Fine Chemicals

The Illinois State Water Survey

Chemists and Chemistry at Noyes:
Roger Adams: "The Chief"
Ludwig F. Audrieth and Synthetic Sweeteners
John C. Bailar Jr. and Coordination Chemistry
St. Elmo Brady: Pioneer
George L. Clark and High-Intensity X-Ray Tubes
Willis H. Flygare and Microwave Spectrometry
Reynold C. Fuson: Teaching Chemistry
Herbert S. Gutowsky and NMR Spectroscopy
B. Smith Hopkins and the Chemistry of Rare Earths
Henry Fraser Johnstone and the Study of Air Pollution
Herbert A. Laitinen and Analytical Chemistry
Carl "Speed" Marvel: Advances in Polymer Chemistry
William A. Noyes: The Department Comes of Age
Arthur W. Palmer: The Early Years
Samuel W. Parr and Applied Chemistry
Charles C. Price III and Antimalarials
Worth H. Rodebush and Physical Chemistry
William C. Rose and Amino Acids
George F. Smith and the Aerosol Can
Harold R. Snyder and Antimalarials
Marion Sparks and Chemical Information

Landmark Designation

Herbert Gutowsky’s pioneering work made nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy one of the most effective tools in chemical and medical research. Gutowsky received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in 1940, and after a four-year interruption for military service, he was awarded a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1946. Gutowsky earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University under George Kistiakowsky and joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1948. He became a full professor in 1956. His research interests as a young faculty member included molecular and solid-state structure and infrared and radio frequency spectroscopy, including nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance.

Gutowsky was the first chemist to apply the NMR method to chemical research, and his investigations into the principles of NMR and its uses has had a monumental effect on virtually all scientific investigations requiring the analysis of molecular structure. His work led to the development of experimental and theoretical tools for studying the structure and dynamics of molecules in liquids, solids, and gases. In short, Gutowsky’s breakthrough discoveries made NMR one of the most important spectroscopic tools in chemical and biochemical research.

Gutowsky and his students made great advances in the early days of NMR, discovering the phenomenon of spin-spin coupling and recognizing its utility for the assignment of structure. He steadily increased the breadth of studies of the structure and molecular motion of molecules, the origin of chemical shifts in NMR spectra, and the use of NMR to identify complex organic compounds. Gutowsky and his colleagues demonstrated that NMR could be used to study exchange processes in chemical systems and to identify and characterize complex compounds.

Gutowsky became head of the Department of Chemistry at Illinois in 1967, and in 1970 he oversaw the creation of the School of Chemical Sciences, which included the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering. He served as Director of the School of Chemical Sciences from 1970 to 1983. He then returned to teaching and research, moving into a second research career in Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopic studies of small, weakly bonded molecules in the gas phase.

Gutowsky’s many achievements were recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He was also elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Gutowsky received may awards, including two from the American Chemical Society, the Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics in 1966 and the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry in 1975. He was also awarded the prestigious National Medal of Science in 1977 and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1983.

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