PERKIN MEDAL Awarded to George 0. Curme for his work in synthelic organic chemistry -
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The Perkin M e d a l f o r 1 9 3 6 was p r e s e n t e d t o George 0. Curme, Jr., vice p r e s i d e n t and director of research of the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation, on January 11, a t a j o i n t meeting of scientific societies under the auspices of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry in Sew York. E . R . Weidlein of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, GEORGE0. CURhfIS, JR. o u t l i n e d the accomplishments of t h e m e d a l i s t , followed by the presentation of the medal by Marston T. Bogert of Columbia University, New York, and the address of the medalist himself. The Perkin Medal may be awarded annually by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry for the most valuable work in applied chemistry. The award may be made to any chemist residing in the United States of America for work which he has done a t any time during his career,
whether this work proved successful a t the time of execution or publication, or whether it became valuable in subsequent development of the industry. The medalist is chosen by a committee representing this society, the ~ E R I C A XcHEMIC.4L SOCIETY, the American Electrochemical Society, the arnerican Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Soci6t6 de Chimie Industrielle. The list of medalists from the date of founding of the medal in 1906 by Sir William H. Perkin to the present is as follows: 1906 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921
Sir William H . Perkin J . B. F. Herreahoff Arno Behr E C.Acheson Charles M. Hall Herman Frasch James Gayley John W. H y a t t Edward Weston Leo H. Baekeland Ernst Twitohell Auguste J. Rossi F. G. Cottrell Charles F. Chandler Willis R. Whitney
1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 193 1 1932 1933 1934 1935
William XI. Burton Milton C Whitaker Frederick hl. Becket Hugh K. .Moore R. B. Moore John E. Teeple Irving Langmuir E. C. Sullivan Herbert H. Dow Arthur D. Little Charles F. Burgess George Oenslager Colin G. Fink Qeorge 0. Curme, J r
(For list of achievements of each medalist up to 1934, see
ISD. EXG.CHEM.,February, 1933, page 229.)
Accomplishments of the Medalist E. R. WEIDLEI~V
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H E medalist gained his success in the field of industrial synthetic organic chemistry, in which Sir William Perkin played an important part in the early days of this branch of industry. However, his modesty and generosity toward others do not make it easy for him to accept this high honor; he always thinks first of his organization, and thus he is an inspiring leader and a model research director. These characteristics would make him more than worthy of this honor, but his individual achievements in the science of chemistry are outstanding. His unyielding desire for order and system in conducting a research project has contributed a great deal to the quality of the work he has carried out. A review of the surroundings and education of George 0. Curme, Jr., indicates that from an early date he had a definite motive and zeal to succeed in his profession. His father has attained outstanding distinction in the field of philology and as an author and editor; and the son, brought up in this academic atmosphere, understood the importance of a sound, basic training. Curme was educated in the public schools a t hft. Vernon, Iowa, and Evanston, Ill., where his father was, respectively, professor in Cornel1 College and Korthwestern University. He was graduated with the degree of B. S. from Northwestern in 1909. The following year was spent in graduate study a t Harvard University. He then entered the University of Chicago and received his doctorate in 1913. The year 1913-14 was spent abroad studying chemistry in Germany-one se-
mester with Fritz Haber a t the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut, and one semester with Emil Fischer a t the University of Berlin. Upon his return to the United States in the fall of 1914, Dr. Curme accepted a fellowship at Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. The transition from an academic life to an industrial one appealed to him as being less severe through the institute than through a direct entrance into industry, for a t that time there were very few industrial laboratories in this country. Curme immediately made his presence felt in our organization, and it was soon realized that he would have a great future. The industrial research specialist moves in a material world and is obliged to conform to the complicated reality of things. He is forced to learn much, to experiment much, and to observe much. Curme quickly adjusted himself to these conditions. He was resolute in holding to his course of action on developing a new method for the production of acetylene for the Prest-0-Lite Company of Indianapolis. He was rapid and venturesome in his thinking, planning, and working, but was cautious and precise in evaluating his results experimentally. Industry's outstandingly good fortune was when the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation purchased the Prest-0-Lite Company and so inherited Dr. Curme and his co-workers. It was equally fortunate for Curme to have the aid, rather than the opposition, of an experienced manufacturing group in this important field. Curme had acquired new information while accomplishing his objective in the
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field of acetylene. He immediately visualized where greater opportunities might be given him in connection with this new organization. The one obstacle that stood in the way was to convince the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation of the value of these proposed researches. The absence of the appreciation of scientific methods in general made the task difficult. While the company was engaged in many developments a t that time that are now considered an important part of the chemical industry, it was skeptical about taking up the manufacture of synthetic organic chemicals, which was deemed foreign to its other activities. The decision was to continue the work a t the institute; this conclusion was based upon the discovery of an active personality, a man with a mission-in other words, a true explorer with one aim, to win. The corporation proved generous with its resources and business advice, and finally the goal was reached. I n 1920 a small experimental plant was established a t Clendenin, W. Va., and the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation was formed. Curme took charge of the work a t Clendenin and developed men in his organization t o continue the work a t the institute, in connection with the company’s research laboratory; today he is the directing force behind the entire research and development program. The company was placed on a commercial basis a t Charleston, W. Va., in 1925, and its growth from that date has been phenomenal. Dr. Curme assumed the title of chief chemist in 1920 and was made vice president and director of research in 1929. The achievements of Curme are many. His original work involved the production of acetylene by the thermodecomposition of mineral oil induced by striking an electric arc beneath the surface of the oil, This was in 1915-16. The process has been receiving considerable attention in recent years, and there has never been any question regarding its technical success. Subsequently he worked out practical methods for the production of ethylene glycol, ethylene dichloride, ethylene chlorohydrin, ethylene oxide, diethyl sulfate, dichloroethyl ether, and other compounds too numerous to be listed. These processes are covered by twenty-five patents. He is the ideal industrial specialist, as he set out to develop, without preconception or prejudice, a knowledge of the facts, the laws, and the processes of the synthetic organic chemical industry. He interwove with these investigations the development of systematic procedure. ideals, and aspira-
Vol. 27, No, 2
tions. These activities represent the functions of science applied to industry and are essential for the progress of our manufactures. After he developed the products and effected the improvements in the processes, he translated the results for application in manufacturing. He not only successfully brought the materials into commercial production but aided in the development of new markets for the products. As is n-ell known today, the production of ethylene glycol, ethylene dichloride, ethylene chlorohydrin, and some of the other compounds runs into many millions of pounds annually. More recently his early work in connection with the production of synthetic isopropyl alcohol and acetone has been commercialized, and these products are now available in large quantities. The achievement that has attracted the most public interest has been the manufacture of synthetic ethyl alcohol; the operation was put into production on a large scale during April, 1930, but the preliminary work had been done and the process well outlined more than ten years before. Dr. Curme is considered one of the greatest living exponents of aliphatic chemistry. He perhaps heads the list of those who have brought the leadership in organic chemistry from Germany where they hold incontestable supremacy in the aromatic field, to the United States where the abundance of raw materials and independence of thought have permitted American chemists to strike out in entirely new directions. Although the achievements of Curme are only now beginning to be recognized, it is of significance that his ideas and his thoughts, as expressed to his intimate friends, have changed but little in the fifteen years that have elapsed since he began this work. He saw clearly in 1915 and 1916, before anybody else appreciated the possibilities, just what is happening today in the field of aliphatic chemistry, and he predicted in those days the industrial use of these aliphatic compounds in quantities reaching into millions of pounds per month, although a t the time only test tube quantities were available. The same attitude prevailed with reference t o the synthetic production of chemicals that had never been manufactured on a commercial scale except by fermentation procesees or natural plant synthesis. The synthetic production of ethyl alcohol is considered by some as important a step in the field of aliphatic chemistry as the production of synthetic indigo was in the field of aromatic chemistry.
AIRPLANE VIEWOF CHEMICAL LABORATORIES AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT BUILDINQS, CARBIDE AND CARBON CHEMICALS CORPORATION
