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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
Fine Chemicals
The traditional source of fine chemicals
– Germany – dried up with American entry into the First World
War. As a result, the Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois
established an organic chemical manufacturing unit, initially under the
direction of Professor Clarence Derick. Originally it was a summer project
for producing chemicals for classroom use, but Roger
Adams turned it into a program for producing organic chemicals for
war and industrial use as well.
Carl
Marvel, a graduate student at the time, spent most of 1917 and 1918
working on the project, and graduate students continued the tradition
over summers as a way to earn money. While some synthetic organic chemicals
had been produced in the United States before the war, the chemists at
Illinois filled an important gap that arose when the German source of
fine chemicals disappeared. The work at Illinois led to the establishment
of Eastman Organic Chemicals.
In the process of making the organic chemicals, Illinois chemists tested
and perfected the directions for their syntheses. These recipes were incorporated
into a series of volumes giving carefully checked recipes for the synthesis
of organic compounds. The publication, Organic Syntheses, founded
by Roger Adams continues to the present day.
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