A N ALVT ICA L EDITORIAL
July 1972, Vol. 44, NO.8 Editor: H E R B E R T A. LAITINEN
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Dedication of Kolthoff Hall INCEREMONIES a t the University of Minnesota on June 2, 1972, the new chemistry building was dedicated Kolthoff Hall in honor of Professor Izaac llaurits Kolthoff, who served as Professor and Chief of the Division of Analytical Chemistry from 1927 until his retirement in 1962. Although Professor Kolthoff has received many awards and recognitions [see, for example, a listing in the Honor Issue of Talanla, 11, 67 (1964)], the distinction of having a building named in honor of a scientist still active in his profession is so outstanding as to merit special mention. Professor Kolthoff himself mould no doubt consider his most important contribution to analytical chemistry to be his pioneering role in recognizing the importance for analytical chemistry, of contributions by physical chemists and biochemists, and incorporating their discoveries into developing analytical chemistry as a truly scientific discipline. I n a recent letter he wrote, “I was inspired by Joel Hildebrand’s paper [“Some Applications of the Hydrogen Electrode in Analysis, Research, and Teaching,” J . Amer. Chem. Soc., 35, 847 (1913)], and in 1914 I started work on potentiometric and conductometric titrations.” Thus, at the age of 20, Kolthoff was already enlarging upon his early training in pharmacy. Among the other non-analytical chemists who influenced his career, Professor Kolthoff has often mentioned J. H. van’t Hoff, who pioneered in the physical chemistry of solutions and equilibria; S. P. L. Sorensen, the physiological chemist who originated the concept of pH; William Mansfield Clark, the biochemist who in 1917 introduced the sulfonephthaleins as indicators; Leonore Michaelis, a biochemist who made extensive studies of redox potentials; Kiels J. Bjerrum, the physical chemist who first calculated neutralization curves and titration errors; and Walther Kernst, the physical chemist who originated the Nernst equation in 1889 while n-orking in the laboratory of Wilhelm Ostwald. Curiously enough, Ostwald wrote a pioneering monograph on the scientific fundamentals of analytical chemistry in 1894, without mentioning the Kernst equation. For further details, the reader is referred to a recent article by Professor Kolthoff on the history of the development of electroanalytical chemistry [ J . Electrochem. Soc., 118, 5C (1971)l. Modern day analytical chemists, who are so accustomed to using the principles of all branches of science, may forget that analysis was essentially an empirical art Tvithin the life span of people still living. Starting with the recognition that these diverse discoveries and others in the early decades of the twentieth century should form the theoretical groundwork for the discipline of analytical chemistry, Professor Kolthoff can be recognized as truly a pioneer in the development of analytical chemistry as a science. It is most appropriate that the University of Ninnesota, where many of his monumental contributions were made, should grant Professor Kolthoff the ultimate recognition of naming a building in his honor.
For submission of manuscripts, see page 4 A . ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 44, NO. 8, JULY 1972
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