Chemical Education Today edited by
Book & Media Reviews
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
Reflections from the Frontiers, Explorations for the Future: Gordon Research Conferences, 1931–2006 edited by Arthur A. Daemmrich, Nancy Ryan Gray, and Leah Shaper Chemical Heritage Foundation: Philadelphia, 2006. 144 pp. ISBN 0941901394. $16.95 reviewed by Jeffrey Kovac
Nancy Ryan Gray, the Director of the Gordon Research Conferences, writes in her introduction to this commemorative volume, “I believe everyone who has attended a Gordon Research Conference (GRC) has a ‘GRC story’.” After 30 years of attending Gordon Research Conferences on various topics, I certainly have several; a few of them are better left untold. This colorful and fascinating book tells the 75-year story of these remarkable conferences through the recollections of participants, more than 75 individual accounts. Here you can read about a confrontation with the New Hampton police at one conference or about a graduate student sneaking into a lecture trying not to be recognized as a non-registrant by a
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famous scientist who happened to sit next to him. You can also read how the conferences have influenced both the careers of scientists and the development of entire fields of research. The origins of many new conferences are recounted by those who made successful proposals to the conferences management. Essays by the editors and by Directors, Emeritus, Alexander M. Cruickshank and Carlyle B. Storm, provide a broader perspective on the history and impact of the conferences. These narratives are supplemented by a timeline documenting important events in GRC history as well as significant scientific advances. Anyone who has attended a Gordon Research Conference will enjoy reading Reflections from the Frontiers, Explorations for the Future: Gordon Research Conferences, 1931–2006. It is also a valuable historical source showing both the development of the conferences and their influence on science. This volume is a fitting tribute to the legacy of the visionary chemical educator who founded both the conferences that carry his name and the Journal of Chemical Education: Neil E. Gordon. Jeffrey Kovac is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600; jkovac @utk.edu.
Vol. 83 No. 8 August 2006
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Journal of Chemical Education
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