Editors'Column
I.M. Kolthoff To Be Honored for Excellence in Teaching The first winner of the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award for Excellence in Teaching, sponsored by the Procter and Gamble Company, will be Izaak Maurits Kolthoff, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. The award, consisting of $2500 and a plaque, will be presented at the Analytical Division dinner on Tuesday, March 22, 1983, at the Seattle ACS meeting. A symposium in honor of Professor Kolthoff is to be held the morning of the same day. The new award is a tangible outgrowth of a conference held in 1981 at the Allerton Conference Center of the University of Illinois, at which several representatives from industry, from the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, and from PhD-granting institutions discussed methods of encouraging able students to study for the PhD degree in analytical chemistry, and methods of stimulating interest in academic careers (see REPORT, page 0000 A). The ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry set up the criteria for the award and the mechanism of selection of the awardee, and the Procter and Gamble Company later agreed to be the sponsor. The stated purpose of the award is "to foster excellence in the teaching of Analytical Chemistry both at the undergraduate and graduate levels in colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. This award is given to an individual who through excellence in teaching in classroom and research environments has definitively and uniquely enhanced the personal and professional development of students in the study of Analytical Chemistry." I.M. Kolthoff, familiarly known as Piet to his many friends, was born in Almelo, Holland, on Feb. 11,1894. Some years ago, in preparing an intro-
duction for the Gibbs Medal award ceremony, I wrote to ask him the origin of his nickname. He replied, "I have been asked this question about a hundred times and cannot answer it. All I recall is that in Kindergarten one of my intimate pals always came to me and said [in Dutch], 'Hi Pietje, tell me something.' " Kolthoff added, "very unsensational and uninteresting for an audience." On that occasion I remarked, "On the contrary, I think it is most revealing that even in Kindergarten his colleagues had learned to seek him out, because he is a born teacher." Kolthoff studied in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Utrecht under the tutelage of Professor Nicholas Schoorl, who encouraged a scientific approach to analytical chemistry and gave him the freedom to pursue his own ideas. Greatly influenced by the classical physical chemists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, e.g., van't Hoff, Ostwald, S0rensen, Arrhenius, Nernst, and Hildebrand, he initiated a series of fundamental studies in such subjects as acid-base equilibria and buffers, colorimetric and potentiometric pH measurements, acid-
base indicators, primary standards, conductometric and potentiometric titrations, and the formation and properties of precipitates. Moving to the University of Minnesota in 1927, he continued his work on precipitates and began work on polarography and amperometric titrations. During and following World War II, he led a team involved with synthetic rubber research. This led him into such topics as the mechanism of emulsion polymerization and induced reactions. Interspersed with these topics was research on acidbase behavior in nonaqueous solvents, which was to become a long-term interest continuing well past his "retirement" in 1962. Among his most recent interests is the application of crown ethers to analytical chemistry. All of this research was characterized by a fundamental approach, using a large variety of analytical methods, and the development of new methods whenever needed. His work has been published in well over 900 articles in many journals. He is also the author of about a dozen books and the coeditor, with P.J. Elving, of the monumental "Treatise on Analytical Chemistry." Kolthoff has received many honors. Among his many medals is the Kolthoff Gold Medal in Analytical Chemistry, presented to him in 1967 by the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences in recognition of his early beginnings in pharmacy. Since that time it has been presented biennially. He has received six honorary degrees in several countries. In 1938 he was knighted by the Queen of Holland as an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, and in 1947 he was made a Commander of the Order. Among his awards in analytical chemistry are the Fisher Award (1950), the Anachem Award (1961),
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 54, NO. 14, DECEMBER 1982 · 1463 A
Editors'Column "//
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and the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award (1981). Also in 1981, he received the highest award of the Electrochemical Society, the Palladium Medal Award. To present him with still another award may appear to be gilding the lily. This new honor, however, represents the first recognition of his contributions to teaching. These contributions include a pioneering elementary textbook coauthored initially with his former student E.B. Sandell. Later editions were coauthored by another former student, Stanley Brack enstein, and a colleague, E.J. Meehan. Another textbook, "pH and Electrotitrations," was used in his advanced undergraduate-first-year graduate course for many years. A second edition (1941) was coauthored by H.A. Laitinen. Several books written primarily as research monographs have seen widespread use as texts in advanced courses. These include "Potentiometric Titrations" (with N.H. Furman), "Acid-Base Indicators" (with Charles Rosenblum), "Volumetric Analysis" (Vols. I and II with V.A. Stenger, and Volume III also with Ronald Belcher), and "Polarography" (with J.J. Lingane).
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Perhaps Kolthoff s most important contribution to teaching is the tutelage of numerous students and postdoctoral associates who have gone on to academic careers. This professorstudent relationship can be traced through four or five academic generations. In addition, his former associates, as professional colleagues of other teachers, have exerted an influence. A large preponderance of American analytical chemists can be traced either to this school or to those of N.H. Furman (Princeton) or H.H. Willard (Michigan), both of whom were close friends. The award symposium will include a sampling of first-generation graduate students (Bruckenstein, Harris, Hume, Laitinen, and Stenger), a postdoctoral associate (Jordan), faculty colleagues (Bruckenstein and Meehan), book coauthors (Bruckenstein, Laitinen, Meehan, and Stenger), a second-generation graduate student (D.C. Johnson), and a third-generation graduate student (L.F. Faulkner). All of those mentioned have been active in academic work except for V.A. Stenger, who recently retired after a career in industry. H.A. Laitinen Department of Chemistry University of Florida Gainesville, Fla. 32604
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