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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 13
Issue 1 (2008) pp 22-27
Moses Gomberg (1866–1947), Father of Organic Free Radical Chemistry: A Retrospective View on the 60th Anniversary of His Death
George B. Kauffman
Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8034, georgek@csufresno.edu
Published online: 1 February 2008
Abstract. Moses Gomberg (1866–1947), who rose from obscurity as a penniless Russian Jewish immigrant to the award-winning 1931 President of the American Chemical Society, serendipitously discovered the first stable organic free radical, triphenylmethyl, in 1900. His career and work, both pure and applied, are recalled here on the 60th anniversary of his death.
Key Words: Chemistry and History; biography; organic chemistry; free radicals; pure chemistry; applied chemistry; industrial chemistry; serendipitous discoveries; Nobel Prize; American Chemical Society
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: georgek@csufresno.edu)
Article in PDF format (246 KB) HTML format
Issue date: February
1, 2008
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