Alan J. Rocke and Aaron J. lhde University of Wisconsin Madison. Wisconsin 53706
A Badger Chemist Genealogy The faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ongoing research dealing with the history of the chemistry department a t the University of Wisconsin in Madison has led us to the preparation o f a n academic genealogical tree similar to those which have been published for the University of Illinois,' McMaster University, O n t a ~ i oMichigan ,~ State University? and the University of A l h e ~ t aThe . ~ Wisconsin eenealoevshows. in boxes, the academic lineage of all tenured ~acultymemhe;s, from the first ~rofesso;of Chemistry, William Willard Daniells, on. Besides names, the boxes also include the school which granted the doctorate together with year: the bottom line zives the year when the appointment a t Wisconsin began a n d t h e yea;in which active teaching was terminated. Where there iB no terminal date, the chemist is presently a member of the faculty. An asterisk (*) indicates termination by retirement to emeritus status; a dagger (t) indicates termination by death; and a double dagger (t) signifies that the chemist took a position elsewhere. All members of the present faculty appear in the boxes in the two top rows except for Hirschfelder, Ferry, and Blaedel. Their lower placement is necessitated because they served as sponsors for someone above: Hirschfelder was mentor for Curtiss and Certain; Ferry is treated as the chemical sponsor for Schrag who actually took his Ph.D. in physics with G. B. Thurston at Oklahoma State, then did post-doctoral work in rheology with Ferry; Blaedel was the major professor of Malmstadt under whom Walters took his Ph.D. at Illinois. Two Wisconsin facultv names are missine from the eenealogy. John Wright wasgranted tenure aft& the char: was drafted. He took his Ph.D. in physics at Johns Hopkins in 1970 under H. Warren Moos and joined the Wisconsin faculty in 1972. Moos took his Ph.D. in physics a t the University of Michigan in 1961. The name of William Byers-Brown is also omitted. In his case. his stav at Wisconsin was brief (19631967 (I)), and his lineage is through the mathematics and physics route hut with heavy leanings toward theoretical chemistry. His doctorate was with H. C. Longuet-Higgins a t Manchester, 1963; Longuet-Higgins was a student of C. A. Coulson at Oxford, 1949; Coulsoo took his degree a t Cambridge in 1936 under J. E. Lennard-Jones; the latter was Cambridge, 1924 under theoretical physicist R. H. Fowler, Cambridge, 1911. In contrast to the earlier chemical genealogies, we have included the date and university where the Ph.D. or equivalent was earned, not onlv for Wisconsin facultv hut for their ancestors. In numbei of cases, this has p i e d problems. Frequently the highest earned degree was not the doctor of philosophy, especially in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Vhroughout this early period, chemistry was an adjunct to medicine or pharmacy,and most chemists were physicians or pharmacists. In such cases, completion of the
a
medical degree or the pharmaceutical apprenticeship has been taken as the date of graduation6 Until the First World War i t was ~ossihleto Droaress degree oTany through the academic ranks with no kind. Benjamin Brodie, Jr. took a bachelor's degree at Oxford in 1838, and only entered chemistry after studying with Liehig in Giessen in 1845. Similarly, Samuel W. Johnson was educated a t Yale, including some graduate work, hut learned much of his chemistry from Liehig at Munich during the years 1853-1855. Johnson's prot6g6, Horace Wells, was appointed instructor a t Yale after a year of graduate work (1878), with onlv a bachelor's degree (though he earned the master's in 18c4). Louis ~ e n n i s & n ~ l e t e d ~chemical his education after graduation from the Univenity of Michigan by a Wanderjahr in Germany, visiting Aachen, Munich, Dresden, and Fresenins' laboratory in Wieshaden. Howard Lucas' graduate career at Chicago was interrupted by his father's death (1910);after three years with the USDA, he began teaching a t Caltech. In each of these instances, we have attempted to assess the major chemical influence on the chemist in question, in lieu of an official doctoral a d v i ~ o r . ~ In general, the student's degree information can be used to locate the doctoral advisor in time and dace. This is not always the case, however, Friedrich strumeyer took a medical degree in Gottingen, hut studied chemistry with Vauquelin in Paris; we have specified the Gottingen degree, hut listed Vauauelin as the maior chemical influence. Liebig's Doktor"ate; was C. W. G. ~ a s t n e ar t Erlangen; he learned much more chemistry from Gay-Lussac and Thenard in Paris (1822-1824). Friedrich Wohler received a medical degree from Heidelherg in 1823. He had learned chemistry by self-study and took no courses from Leopold Gmelin a t Heidelherg; Gmelin recommended him to Berzelius and Wohler was decisively influenced by his work in Stockholm the following year. Similarly, Adolphe Wurtz received an M.D. degree a t Strashourg in 1843, hut learned most of his chemistry the following year in Giessen, and after he became an assistant to Bartow, V., J. CHEM. EDUC., 16,236 (1939). Graham. R. P.. J. CHEM. EDUC. 25.632 (1948). ' hl&rt>;. (!. N'.,.I. ('HEM. EDUC. t i , :ll:rlgfi9). *('&r, F. ( ' , Chrm in ('onudo. 26: Y 11974). " . l u s t t ~ sL~eh~r: is the first chemist on the chan who receiwd the doctor of philosophy degree. Far instance, Vauquelin's date (1789)marks the end of his initial association with Foureroy. Sometimes we were forced to rely on educated guesses. For examole. durine.. the "ear Lucas was at the Universitv of Chicaeo. . .. . Julius Stirglitz was the m t a t active chrmist on the fnculty. .I.I.'. Nef uns already i n scmi-rrtiremcnt. and the other rhemwtint Chirego were ymng and nut yet pn~duer~va.
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94 1 Journal of Chemical Education
J. B. Dumas in Paris. Adoloh von Baever's official demee was with Gustav Magnus at ~ e k i in n 1858;but the major Gfluence on his chemistrv was exerted unauestionablv. by . August . Kek u k Moses ~ o h b e r ~education 's at Michigan, where he was the student of the self-taunht Albert B. Prescott, was supplemented by a year's work with Baeyer and Victor Meyer. F. Tiemann's Giittingen degree does not reflect his extremely close relation to A. W. von Hofmann. Finally, George Gibson's official advisor was Otto Lummer, but this was only because Richard Abegg was killed in a balloon accident shortly before Gibson finished his experimental work. Lummer was aphysies professor who had taken a Ph.D. with H. Helmholtz a t Berlin in 1884.8 The information summarized on the chart was eathered in several different ways.9 The first two to four generations were established by correspondence with living chemists. Old editions of American Men of Science were useful for chemists who were active in the twentieth century; Who's Who and the corresponding foreign directories were valuable for foreign chemists and nineteenth-century Americans. These share the disadvantage, however, of not listing doctoral advisors. W. D. Miles, (Editor) [American Chemists and Chemical Engineers," American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 19761 was often helpful. Better-known chemists who have been dead for manv vears were soueht out in Dictionarv of Scientific ~iogr&h;, Dictionary if American Biograph;, ~ o u u k l e Biographie GhGrale, and in the standard histories of chemistry. J. C. Poggendorff's Biographisch-literarisches Handworterbuch was invaluable for lesser-known figures: short biographical sketches, sometimes listing doctoral advisor, are included, as well as citations of obituaries and biographical memoirs. Generally the most difficult piece of information to establish was the doctoral advisor or "major chemical influence." If the above sources proved unhelpful, it was sometimes possihle to locate a coov-or a t least a comdete citation--of the dissertation.10 ~ a & publications of the chemist in question are often iointlv with his mentor. or thev contain acknowledgmentsto the advisor. ~ i n e r u a~: a h r b u c hder Gelehrtenwelt. oublished annuallv from 1891 to 1914 and irrenularlv therkafter, was useful for determining the chemistry Faculty at a particular university in a given year. There are 209 chemists on the chart. Degree dates range from 1778 (Berthollet) to 1970 (Berry). The average generation is 20 years; the shortest is 3 years (G. W. Schaeffer-R. 0.Schaeffer, and G. M. Whitesides-C. P. Casey), and the Ionzest is .53 vears (Wohler-E. F. Smith). The first American chtmists on t h e chart are Samuel W. Johnson and Josiah P. Cwke, who completed their undergraduate educations at Yale and Harvard, respectively, around 1850. Johnson's student Horace Wells was the first chemist listed to receive his entire training in the United States; W. A. Noyes obtained the first American doctorate; George Gibson was the last Americanborn chemist on this chart to go abroad for his doctorate (1911).
The 163 American chemists are distributed over 24 universities: Harvard has a strong lead, followed by Yale, Wisconsin, Berkeley, and Caltech. The German universities represented a r d l e d by Giessen, Giittingen, Berlin, and Heidelbern. It is interesting to note that Professor H. E. ~immmn;,nis an eighth generation Yale graduate; the second longest string from a s~nyleuni\.ersity is four generatiuns. It is not sur~~risinv th;lt the eenealow -. lends hack to the gruup of P~~risinn chtmiits surnunding A. L. Lavoisierespecially Berthollei, Fourcroy, and Vauquelin; here modern chemistry had i t i origins." Kven the Swede J. J. Rerzelius, who never visited France until 1818, wasstrongly inrluenred next h e two hy his rending of French nntiphlogistic w ~ r k s . ~ ~ T generations aher Lavoisier's death-Gay-Lussac. 'I'henard, and 1)umas-were still renrered in Paris, hut the lend in rhemiitrv was beginning to shift to Germany. This shift was hastened hv 1.iebie and Wuhler. who studied in Paris and Stockholm, respect&ly, butkho began training German (and later American) chemists as earlv as the 1820's. From midcentury until the First Wurld \%'&,Germany was the center of chemical eduratiun. Refore 1890. most of our chemists rot their Ph.D.'s abroad. The lead pasied from Germany to the United States durine the First World War: thereafter. all the American chemists on our chart were educated here.'
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Acknowledgment We would like to express our thanks to all those who supplied information; they are too numerous to single out individually. We are particularly grateful to Alex Kotch and John Walters who showed special interest in the preparation of this eenealoev. and who s ~ u r r e dus into action. Euaene Cittadino. who prepared the genealogical chart from our preliminary draft. is the recioient of our soecial aratitude. We also exmess i u for financial our appreciation to the S. E. ~ c ~ l v a Fund support of this historical study. 8 On Stromeyer,see Prandtl, W., "Deutsehe Chemiker," Weinheim, 1956,152-54; Liehig: ibid., 135-92 (many other sources);Wurtz: Bull. Soc. Chim. [2],43, 1 (1885);Cooke: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci., 30, 513 (1895);Baeyer: "Gesammelte Werke," 2 vols., Braunsehweig, 1905: Tiemann: Rer., 34,4403 (1901);Gamberg: Biog. Mem., Notl. Acad. Sei., 41.141 (1970);Gibson: Poggendorff,6,886, and Ber., 46, 619~. (1912). We rrprrcs our ind~htedness10 the four earlier chemiral prnmlumrr. bur rpmark thar all the rrlati~nshipshaw been rhrckrd. and i n n ten razesalrered.\Ye *ruuld be yratriul forany ndditwnsur corrections. 1°For example, in Poggendorff or in the Notional Union CataJ
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llBerthollet was a student of P. J. Macquer, a phlogistonist. Fourcroy was a student of J. B. M. Bucquet (1746-1780) who was associated with Lavoisier from 1777 and who taught some of Lavoisier's ideas in 1778 when Fourcroy was studying under him. (See McDonald, E., in Dict. Sci. Biog., 2,572 (1910)).Both Berthollet and Fourcroy were closely associated with Lavoisier in the 1780's. l2 Berzelius' teacher, Afielius, was a phlogistonist.
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