JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
JEAN BAPTISTE GILLIS RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
A M O N G the contemporary Belgian chemists, Jean Baptiste Gillis is outstanding in the field of analytical chemistry. Son of a military physician, he was born at Arlon on August 8, 1893. His secondary education, along the usual classical lines, was obtained a t Ghent, the home of his mother, and then at Antwerp. I n 1911 he enrolled a t the University of Ghent and in 1913 became a candidate for a degree in natural sciences. His chemical training was under the supervision of Frederic Swarts (1866-1940) who is well remembered for his pioneering work with fluorine compounds.' When the first world war broke out, Gillis immediately joined the colors and as an infantryman took part in the defense of Liege and Antwerp. He was wounded and evacuated to Holland, where in 1915 he was attached t o the Ecole Belge d ' h s t e r d a m as instructor in physics and chemistry, since he had qualified as a teacher in these subjects. He also attended the courses of A. F. Holleman2 and Andreas SmitsQt the University of Amsterdam. The former had an international reputation for his work on substitution in the benzene ring and his textbook of organic chemistry. The latter, a physical chemist, was the author of the widely known "Theories of Allotropy." Gillis started his research career in Smits' laboratory, where he studied the heterogeneous and homogeneous equilibria of two systems, namely, thiocyanates and isothiocyanates, and reducing sugars in the presence of water or organic solvents. I n 1917 he reached England and then went back to the Belgian front, this time in the artillery. In September, 1918, he took the doctoral examination before the Jury Central, which had been set up by the Belgian authorities and was then For biographical details, see VANHOYE, T. H., Bull. sac. chim.
Belges, 49, 33 (1940). See J. CHEM.EDUC.,13,401 (1936); Jo~rssWW. P., Chem. Weekblad, 15, 1309 (1918). a See J . CHEM. EDUC., 17,151 (1940); GILLIS,J. B., Kminkl. Vlaam. Aead. Wetenschap. BelgiC, 1949, 188-206.
meeting in Le Havre, France. His work on the thiocyanate-isothiocyanate equilibrium served as the thesis. After the Armistice in November, 1918, Dr. Gillis was given a post in the laboratory of general chemistry a t Ghent. It was directed by Swarts, his former teacher, who was maintaining the excellent chemical tradition which had been instituted there by Kekulk (1858-68) and continued by his father, T. Swarts, and brother-in-law, Leo Baekeland, before the latter's emigration to the United States. I n 1923 the Faculty of Sciences came to a fortunate decision; it set up an independent chair of analytical chemistry. No longer, as in the past, was it a mere dependent of the courses in general and applied chemistry; it became something higher than the "humble servant" of the other disciplines. Gillis was made the first occupant of the new chair, a position he has filled with distinction. Here he has been able to carry on researches in the theory of analytical chemistry and also to conduct studies of a practical nature, as is fitting in view of his courses for engineers, pharmacists, and those snecializine in chemistrv. ~.. Since, much of his training had bwnin physical chemistrv. " , it n.ns but nutnrul t h a t he beean his indenrndrnt research career with electrochemical problems; he made valuable contributions to potentiometry and rapid electroanalysis. Polarography was introduced into his laboratory in 1928. By scraping the anode and cathode simultaneously and continuously with a diamond during the electrolytic deposition of various metals, he proved the importance of the adsorption of their own ions and also contributed to a better understanding of passivity. I n the field of colloids, he made quantitative studies of the exchange of ions to negative silver iodide sol. when it was found that the determination of traces of elements was important $0 the preparation of this sol in a pure state, he made the necessary determinations ~~
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polarographically as well as by means of the spectrograph. His work on the determinationand toxicity of mercury vapor led him t o the use of charcoal activated with five per cent of bromine as a collector for these vapors. With the aid of several collaborators he sought t o prove in general that in spectrochemistly it is possible to determine not only the minor elements but also the metals which are present in predominant proportions. This program was applied with success to white metal, bronze, steel, clay, and hlast-furnace slag. For the past several years his laboratory has been equipped for the direct analysis of special steels and the feasibility of the original idea has been sustained. I n 1940 Professor Gillis was appointed to the Committee on Analytical Reactions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.' He then embarked on an extensive program of studying critically the reactions of analytical chemistry. Together with C. J. van Nienwenhurg (Delft) and Paul Wenger (Geneva) he issued the well-known "DeuxiBme Rapport" (Basle, 1945) whose essence was contained in the "Reagents for Qualitative Inorganic Analysis" (New York, 1948) by Wenger, Gillis, and van Nieuwenhurg. As chairman of the commission he is now directina the 'See J. CHEM.EDUC., 30.66 (1953).
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critical and experimental study of the reactions of colorimetry. The graphical representation of the sensitivity of reactions and the effect of foreign materials on sensitivity have led him to construct many sensitivity diagrams and to employ them, for example, for semiquantitative purposes under conditions which are quite simple with respect to both material and e x e c u t i ~ n . ~ During the more recent years he has devoted himself mostly to the synthesis of new organic reagents designed for the sensitive detection of certain ions. For example, cuproine has been the subject of a very nice study which has resulted in a specific test for univalent copper. A most fertile field has been opened, particularly by his collaborator, J. Haste, who has been studying the steric blocking of the functional group of ferrone and cuproine by terminal groups, and there i6 hope that it may become possible to choose and construct reagents on more rational bases of both physical and chemical nature. Not all of Professor Gillis' fields of research have been touched on here, but enough has been given to prove that he is an exceedingly effective member of the chemical profession. He is Associate Editor of Analytica Chimica Acta.
