National Historic Chemical Landmark Research Articles

ACS honors insulin development

Diabetes used to be a death sentence, killing people by disrupting sugar metabolism. But in 1922, University of Toronto researchers and physicians successfully treated a boy with diabetes by injecting him with insulin extracted from animal pancreases. Physicians clamored for the new drug, so the university began collaborating with Eli Lilly and Company to satisfy the demand. The company refined and scaled up production techniques and delivered the world’s first commercial doses in 1923. The American Chemical Society honored Lilly’s role in these achievements with a National Historic Chemical Landmark designation ceremony in Indianapolis on March 27. Speakers at the event included ACS president-elect Mary Carroll and Leonard Glass, senior vice president of Lilly diabetes global medical affairs. “The global pandemic has demonstrated unambiguously that science matters,” Carroll said. “It has shown the critical importance of performing and publishing rigorous scientific work, educating students, and communicating science to elected officials

Call for papers: Northeast Regional Meeting

s are being accepted for the 2022 Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM), to be held Oct. 2–5 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center in Rochester, New York. The meeting’s theme is “Focusing on the Future of Chemistry.” The 2020 Harrison-Howe Award recipient, Wilfred van der Donk of the American Chemical Society Rochester Local Section, will deliver the plenary lecture. A National Historic Chemical Landmark will also be designated, and the Eastman Kodak Company and its founder, George Eastman, will be recognized for their role in the birth of consumer photography. Symposia include: “3D Printing,” “Advanced Materials and Technologies at Kodak,” “Advanced Polymer Materials,” “Advancements in Protein Chemistry and Applications,” “Battery and Energy Storage,” “Biomedical Engineering,” “Bonds and Breaking Boundaries: Modern Developments in Catalysis,” “Chemistry of Emerging Technologies,” “Chemists as Entrepreneurs,” “CO 2 Conversion and Utilization,” “Defining DEIR and Taking Advantage of Resources & Collaborations to Promote DEIR,” “Environmental Chemistry,” “Frontiers in

ACS announces 2 National Historic Chemical Landmark designations

ACS announces 2 National Historic Chemical Landmark designations

ACS announces 2 National Historic Chemical Landmark designations

ACS announces 2 National Historic Chemical Landmark designations

Birth of petrochemical industry designated Chemical Landmark

Innovations at Union Carbide that laid the foundation for the modern petrochemical industry are being honored with the American Chemical Society’s National Historic Chemical Landmark designation. The dedication ceremony was held on Sept. 10 in Clendenin, West Virginia, where this now-global industry had its modest start a century ago. In 1920, thanks to the vision of George Curme Jr., Union Carbide formed a subsidiary to develop a process to manufacture ethylene. The move to ethylene was a revolutionary step because acetylene was the workhorse chemical of the day. Union Carbide, which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, began operating its first ethylene facility in 1921 in Clendenin. Curme and his Union Carbide colleagues also commercialized processes to convert ethylene into several other useful compounds, thereby launching a business sector that has evolved into today’s multi-billion-dollar petrochemical industry. “These ethylene-based compounds are now used in numerous products—including clothing, packaging, detergents,

Strategic Place-Making and Public Scientific Outreach in the American Chemical Society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program

This article investigates place-making—a process involving appeals to embodiment, materiality, and spatial arrangement—as a means for building communicative relationships between technical scientific communities and lay publics. Drawing from discourses related to the National Historic Chemical Landmark Program’s 89 landmarks, we illustrate how the National Historic Chemical Landmark Program builds different types of relationships with nonexperts via the utilization of place as (a) narrative framing device, (b) proprietor, and (c) gatekeeper. These findings reveal the ways in which specific strategic place-making gestures can support more or less public engagement in the processes of scientific work and outreach.

Chemical landmark rededicated

The American Chemical Society has rededicated Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, known as Berkeley Lab, as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The ceremony took place on Aug. 11 at the Lawre...

GC/MS honored with chemical landmark

It’s hard to imagine an analytical chemistry lab today without gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), the powerful and ubiquitous tool widely used by chemists to identify individual substances in a mixture. But before the mid-1950s, the combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry was not yet available. The invention of GC/MS by scientists at Dow Chemical in 1955 changed the course of history and was honored with a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society during an event on June 8 in Midland, Michigan, the city in which Dow was founded and the birthplace of GC/MS. To recognize the significant contribution of this invention in the history of chemistry, ACS president Bonnie Charpentier presented a commemorative plaque to representatives from Dow. The event, held in conjunction with the 50th Central Regional Meeting of ACS, also in Midland, was hosted by the ACS Midland Section, which is celebrating its 100th

Pioneering steroid research earns landmark status

Steroids have revolutionized modern-day medicine, aiding in the treatment of a broad range of diseases, including arthritis, lupus, and multiple sclerosis. The pioneering research on steroids at the Upjohn Company was honored with a National Historic Chemical Landmark during a May 17 ceremony at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Upjohn was founded in 1886. “Many of these modern drug therapies would not be available today without the pioneering research and development that occurred at Upjohn over an incredible 60-year period starting in 1930,” says American Chemical Society immediate past president Peter Dorhout. “The medicinal chemistry innovations, microbial and chemical transformation discoveries, and manufacturing processes developed by Upjohn for its steroid medicine program transformed not only the pharmaceutical industry but also the entire field of synthetic organic chemistry.” In 1935, Upjohn became the first company to market an adrenocortical steroid product, and by the ...

St. Elmo Brady gains chemical landmark status

St. Elmo Brady, who in 1916 became the first black chemist in the US to be granted a PhD, was honored by the American Chemical Society with a National Historic Chemical Landmark designation during a ceremony on Feb. 5 at his doctoral alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “This landmark designation recognizes the outstanding accomplishments and leadership impact that Dr. Brady has had on the chemical profession,” said ACS immediate past president Peter K. Dorhout. “I am proud to be an alumnus of the university that was part of his legacy—dreaming, designing, and executing the creation of four outstanding and impactful chemistry programs that have each worked to ensure access to higher education and the chemical professions for so many young African American men and women over the last century.” Brady grew up in segregated Louisville, Kentucky. He attended Louisville Colored High School and went on to college

Production of plutonium-238 named a National Historic Chemical Landmark

Production of plutonium-238 named a National Historic Chemical Landmark

Call for papers: SERMACS 2018

Abstract submissions are being accepted for the 2018 Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS), which will be held Oct. 31–Nov. 3 at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center in Augusta, Ga. The conference theme is “Securing Tomorrow through Innovation Today.” Three plenary lectures will highlight advances in analytical chemistry, biomolecular and materials engineering, and nanomaterials and materials for energy. Special events include a soiree recognizing the designation of the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site as an ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark, tours of the Savannah River Site, and a screening of the energy documentary “Switch.” The conference offers programming for undergraduate students and high school teachers, as well as career and small business development sessions, an intercollegiate chemistry ethics bowl, and an expo. The final program summary will be published in CE the online program will be available Sept. 17. Abstracts are

Chlorofluorocarbon research designated a chemical landmark

With concerns about climate change dominating the news (C&EN, June 5, page 14), it’s fitting that the American Chemical Society awarded one of its most recent National Historic Chemical Landmark designation to the 1974 discovery by F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario J. Molina of the University of California, Irvine, that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can lead to ozone depletion. Atmospheric ozone helps absorb potentially damaging ultraviolet radiation. Without it, human life cannot survive. The ceremony and presentation of the plaque took place on April 18 at UCI where, at the time of their discovery, Rowland was a chemistry professor and Molina was his postdoc. “ACS is deeply committed to communicating the value of science in our everyday lives,” ACS President Allison A. Campbell said in her remarks during the ceremony. “As part of that mission, ACS created the Landmarks program 25 years ago to enhance public appreciation for the contributions of the

Ivermectin and vitamin B gain landmark status

The discoveries of ivermectin and the vitamin B complex were designated National Historic Chemical Landmarks by the American Chemical Society during a ceremony on Dec. 2 at Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, N.J. Merck & Co.’s synthesis and development of ivermectin in the 1970s and 1980s provided a breakthrough treatment for infectious diseases transmitted by parasites. Similarly, Merck’s advances in the study of the vitamin B complex resulted in dietary supplements and treatments for diseases caused by nutritional deficiencies. “The work of Merck scientists in the discovery of ivermectin and in the development of the vitamin B complex represent striking examples of the transforming power of chemistry,” said Alan Rocke, chair of the ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks Subcommittee, during his remarks. To earn landmark status, a discovery “must have occurred at least 25 years ago, it must represent a seminal achievement in the chemical sciences, and it must clearly

The Discovery of Phytochrome

AbstractThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Beltsville, Maryland, USA was recently designated an American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmark for the seminal work of USDA scientists in the discovery of phytochrome, the ubiquitous plant pigment that controls plant growth and development in response to light. The discovery team was inspired by the work of Harry A. Borthwick and Marion W. Parker in the 1930s, which quantified photoperiodic phenomena and recruited Sterling B. Hendricks into the search for a chemical basis for non-photosynthetic responses of plants to light. Hendricks was a world famous soil chemist and member of the National Academy of Sciences before he became engaged in plant science. He hypothesized the existence of a photoreversible pigment that controls photoperiodism in flowering, seed germination, and many photomorphogenic processes in plants. Karl Norris and Warren Butler created the specialized spectrophotometer that was needed to detect the pigment in vivo. Harold W. (Bill) Siegleman provided the biochemical expertise to isolate the pigment. The scientific stars aligned in one place, as they rarely do, to make the discovery complete.

Pigment Earns Chemical Landmark

How do certain plants, like the black-eyed Susan, know to flower during the summer while others, like the chrysanthemum, wait until the fall to bloom? The answer lies in a light-sensitive pigment called phytochrome that helps regulate plant growth and development by detecting light and darkness. The pigment was isolated in 1959 by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), opening up new plant breeding possibilities for crop growers. This seminal achievement has been designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society. A ceremony took place on Oct. 21 at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Md., where ACS presented USDA representatives with a plaque that read, in part: “Understanding the role of phytochrome in plant development allows scientists to produce crops for seasons and latitudes not previously possible, both by manipulating the environment through lighting controls and by breeding plants with ...

ACS memorial plaques in New York City

As of spring 2015, five American Chemical Society (ACS) “National Historic Chemical Landmark” plaques have commemorated outstanding achievements in chemistry in New York City. These are at New York University (NYU), Columbia University, Rockefeller University (all in Manhattan), and the Polytechnic School of Engineering of NYU (in Brooklyn). The fifth used to be at the Pfizer plant in Brooklyn. The ACS Division of the History of Chemistry has its own program of commemorative plaques of “Citation for Chemical Breakthrough” and those erected in New York City are also introduced here.

Partners For Progress & Prosperity

What an exhilarating and rewarding journey it has been these past three years in the American Chemical Society presidential succession! Exhilarating because it has been an honor to be invited to represent ACS during visits to chemistry communities here and overseas ever since I was elected. I greatly appreciate the new friendships and diverse perspectives gained when I traveled to various local sections, international chapters, universities, research institutes, government labs, regional meetings, international conferences, National Historic Chemical Landmarks, ACS on Campus events, and many other places. It has also been immensely rewarding to receive heartfelt appreciation from members worldwide for listening and reaching out to them to get their input. Last September, I was invited by the Romanian Chemical Society (RCS) and the Romania ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapter to attend an international conference on analytical chemistry in Târgoviste. The meeting was jointly organized by RCS, the AC...

Thomas Edison Labs Named Landmark

Although many know that Thomas Alva Edison had an aptitude for turning scientific advances into useful products such as the lightbulb, fewer people may realize that many of those inventions were enabled by his knowledge and application of chemistry. To highlight this connection, the American Chemical Society has recognized the chemical research and development work of the iconic inventor as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Ceremonies at the present-day sites of Edison’s laboratories marked the designation. The events were held at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Fla., on May 25; the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, N.J., on June 6; and The Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Mich., on Sept. 20. Edison, who was born in 1847, “believed in the transforming power of chemistry to improve people’s lives in powerful ways,” said Ned D. Heindel, past-president of ACS, who spoke at the West ...

BUCKYBALLS NAMED A LANDMARK

AWARD-WINNING discoveries are remarkable in and of themselves, but many stimulate great change. The serendipitous discovery of fullerenes is one example. Not only were fullerenes an entirely new form of carbon, but their identification kick-started nanoscience and nanotechnology research and changed the way we think about chemistry and materials. The history of the discovery has been well chronicled, most notably when the scientists responsible won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. On Oct. 11, when the 1985 discovery of fullerenes was honored by the American Chemical Society as its 67th National Historic Chemical Landmark, the change it has brought to Rice University, in Houston, was evident as well. The research was conducted in the Rice lab of chemistry and physics professor Richard E. Smalley, who passed away in 2005. The remaining members of the original research team gathered for the chemical landmark ceremony and an informal discussion of their work. Their collaboration was reluctant. Rice ...