Читатели Chemical & Engineering News призвали дополнить обзор истории химии упоминания Морриса Хараша и Джозайи Гиббса

A pivotal omission I read with great interest the article by Elizabeth Quill, “6 Pivotal Moments in 250 Years of US Chemistry.” It was a fantastic overview of the key moments and contributions of the great chemists in our history. I personally enjoyed reading about the contributions of both the University of Illinois and Benjamin Rush, namesake of Rush Medical College, as those schools are my alma maters. I do understand the space limitations of including the many great chemists during the historical periods of time covered. However, on a further personal note, I do feel that a renowned chemist with a critical role in World War II was left out: Morris S. Kharasch from the University of Chicago (my great-uncle). He revolutionized the field of organic chemistry with his discovery of free-radical chemistry. This work led to an enormous body of discoveries. He also founded the Journal of Organic Chemistry (1936) and was nominated for the Nobel Prize (which he did not receive because of his untimely death). Importantly, his contributions to the synthetic rubber project, which is discussed in your article, were profound. His work on industrial polymerization reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons led to the mass production of synthetic rubber, which was negligible in 1941 and reached well over a half a million metric tons annually by 1945. Additionally, his work on overcoming the formation of popcorn polymers that resulted from uncontrolled free-radical branching significantly improved production reliability. Without question, his work was instrumental in the establishment of a robust domestic synthetic rubber industry, averting economic and military crises by replacing natural rubber. Sigmund J. Kharasch, MD Newton, Massachusetts More pivotal moments I enjoyed reading the July C&EN cover story, “6 Pivotal Moments in 250 Years of US Chemistry.” However, the significant development of the field of physical chemistry as an important branch of chemistry is not fully highlighted. This was first formalized in the US through a systematic development of classical thermodynamics by Josiah Willard Gibbs (Yale University) in the late 19th century and carried through to the end of the 20th century by Nobelist Ahmed Zewail (California Institute of Technology) with a detailed answer, using ultrafast pulsed laser technology, to the fundamental question of how long it takes for a chemical bond to break. On a different note, Percy Julian (DePauw University and the Glidden Company) is another pioneer in medicinal and natural product chemistry, responsible for a pivotal moment in the US when he developed some of the earliest affordable drugs for glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis in the 1940s. Rama Viswanathan Beloit, Wisconsin