This Week in Chemical History

Week 26: June 25 – July 1 (Archive)

June 25

• Herbert B. Baker, born 1862, researcher on effect of water on chemical change; authority on desiccating and poison gases.
• Walther H. Nernst, born 1864, discovered third law of thermodynamics; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1920).
• William H. Stein, born 1911, researched enzyme chemistry; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1972).

June 26

• William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), born 1824, established theory and practice of thermodynamics; defined absolute temperature scale (Kelvin).
• Wilhelm Ostwald converted ammonia to nitric acid by using a platinum catalyst in 1907.

June 27

• Arthur C. Cope, born 1909, researcher in synthetic organic chemistry including medium-sized ring compounds.
• Abraham Gesner patented the process for obtaining kerosene by distillation in 1854.

June 28

• Alexis Carrel, born 1873, Nobel Prize in Medicine (1912).
• Maria Goeppert-Mayer, born 1906, developed shell model of nucleus; researched isotopes effects, Nobel Prize in Physics (1963).
• F. Sherwood Rowland, born 1927, researcher on air pollution particularly the ozone layer; Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1995).

June 29

• Peter Waage, born 1833, formulated Law of Mass Action.

June 30

• Paul Berg, born 1926, researcher in recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1980).

July 1

• Franz J. Muller von Reichenstein, born in 1740; in 1782, discovered tellurium (Te, 52).
• Gerald M. Edelman, born 1929, researcher in structure of antibodies; Nobel Prize in Medicine (1972).
• J. T. Baker incorporated originally as Vick Chemical in 1919.
• The first nuclear rocket engine was successfully tested in 1959.