JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
FROM the close of the phlogistic period, i. e., from the incumbency of Tobern Bergrnan (1735-84),' Upsala has been a notable center of chemical training and research. Appointment to a professorship in this faculty is indeed a recognition of proved ability. Gunnar Hagg has occupied the chair of general and inorganic chemistry at this Swedish university since 1936. Born at Stockholm on December 14, 1903, he entered the University of Stockholm in 1922. In 1926 he studied at University College, London, under F. G. Donnana and then returned (1927) to Stockholm where he began to work in X-ray crystallography under A. Westgren. After the Ph.D. was conferred by the Uuiversity of Stockholm in 1929, Dr. Hagg was appointed lecturer there in general and inorganic chemistry. He also became associated with the theoretical division of the Metallographic Institute (Stockholm), which was directed by Westgren. The main emphasis in his earlier researches was on crystal structure by means of X-ray diffraction. He studied especially the metallic phases produced by transition elements and nonmetals such as hydrogen, boron, carbon, and nitrogen. In connection with these investieations he also took up the martensite problem
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FERGUBON, E. G., J. CHEM.EDUC.,17,555 (1941). OEBPER, R. E., J. CAEM. EDUC.,18, 282 (1941).
and the nitriding of steel. Solid solutions of the interstitial type, particularly the so-called subtraction solutions (such as are found in pyrrhotite, i. e., the solid solution of sulfur in FeS, the spinels leading to yAlzOa and y- FezOa, the tungsten bronzes), also received his attention. He made studies of layer lattices and the order-disorder phenomena found in them. The structure of the dithionate ion represents another phase of his researches. The work a t Upsala is now being conducted along different lines with the collaboration of students and others. The subjects include the determination of the structures of metal oxides, particularly oxides of molybdenum and tungsten; structures of polymolybdates, which have led to the interpretation of the anions of the para-, tetra-, and dimolybdates; metallic borides; structures of borates and boric oxide; and development of electrochemical methods, especially in polarography. He wrote "Kemisk Reaktionslara" (first edition 1940, fourth edition 1948) to satisfy the need of a text book presenting the theoretical bases of analytical chemistry. A translation of this excellent text into German by Hans Baumann was issued in 1950 a t Base1 with the title "Die theoretischen Grundlaaen der analytischen Chemie."s
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KOLTAOFF, I. M., J. CHEM.EDUC.,27, 532 (1950).
