150th Chemistry

Henry Frederick Schaefer, III

March 27, 2020
By T. Daniel Crawford

Henry Frederick Schaefer III

Henry Frederick ‘Fritz’ Schaefer III was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 8 June 1944, one of three children of Henry F. Schaefer, Jr and Janice Christine Trost. Fritz's parents were both graduates of the University of Michigan — his mother a...

Gilbert Newton Lewis

March 25, 2020
by Raymond G. Gettell, Joel H. Hildebrand, Wendell M. Latimer, and G. E. Gibson
Scientist in a laboratory

Gilbert N. Lewis in his lab at UC Berkeley, 1937.

“Gilbert Newton Lewis was born near Boston, October 23, 1875. At the age of nine he was taken by his parents to live in Lincoln, Nebraska, where...

Neil Bartlett

March 20, 2020

Neil Bartlett

By Michael Barnes

Neil Bartlett, a renowned emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, whose groundbreaking experiments challenged the prevailing views of the nature of noble gases, died unexpectedly on...

Samuel Ruben

January 24, 2020
By Wendell M. Latimer, Melvin Calvin, and Dennis R. Hoagland

Scientist in a lab

Samuel Ruben in his lab. Photo from the Seaborg Archive, Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Undated photo, early 1940s.

Samuel Ruben was born in San Francisco, November 8, 1913. He was awarded the B.S. degree in 1935 and the Ph.D. degree in 1938 by the University of California. His death, September 28, 1943, resulted from an accident in the laboratory while he was working as Official...

Bruce H. Mahan, 1930 - 1982

February 18, 2021
Yuan T. Lee, Rollie J. Myers, Kenneth Sauer, and Ignacio Tinoco Jr.

Bruce Mahan posing on a tree log

Bruce Mahan was born in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1930. He attended Harvard University both as an undergraduate and as a graduate Ph.D. student. After completing his bachelor's degree in the chemistry department, he decided to carry out his doctoral studies with George Kistiakowsky in physical chemistry...

Edward Booth

June 1, 2021

Born July 1857; died August 24, 1917, in California. Married Robina McArthur Brodie (Canadian) born March 1862. Daughter Jean born Sept 1886. Marriage Jan 1885, North Georgetown, Quebec, Canada.

Graduated from UC Berkeley with a PhB. in 1877.

From 1877 until 1880 he was an instructor at the College. In 1880 he became a Chemist and Assistant State Mineralogist in the California State Mining Bureau. Later he was the Assayer and Assistant Superintendent of a reduction works at Auburn, Placer county. He engaged in private practice as a chemist and as an engineer.

He left...

George Claude Pimentel

March 3, 2020
Robert E. Connick, Frederick C. Crews, C. Bradley Moore, Kenneth S. Pitzer, and Loy L. Sammet

George Claude Pimentel pointing to a blackboard while lecturing

With the death of George Pimentel (1922-1989), the Berkeley campus has lost an eminent scientist, a great teacher, a...

Melvin Calvin

March 28, 2020

By Les Prix Nobel, edited by Nobel Lectures

man in laboratory

Photo: Melvin Calvin in his Lab.

Melvin Calvin was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, April 8, 1911, of Russian emigrant parents. He received the B...

Joel Henry Hildebrand

March 19, 2020

By Kenneth S. Pitzer, D. H. McLaughlin, G. C. Pimentel, and J. M. Prausnitz

Scientist in lab

Photo: Joel Henry Hildebrand

Joel Henry Hildebrand (b. November 16, 1881, d. April 30, 1983) was born in Camden, New Jersey. His ancestors came to America before the revolution from the upper Rhine valley. When asked about his longevity, Joel replied, “I...

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer

March 29, 2020

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer

By Robert E. Connick, William H. Miller, and C. Bradley Moore

Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer, former dean of the College of Chemistry and one of the most influential...