Price Calls for Synthesis of Life ACS President thinks feat should be national goal; W. 0. Baker named to get Priestley Medal Miss America and the unsuccessful aspirants to her crown were leaving as more than 8000 chemists moved into Atlantic City, N.J., for the 150th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Their arrival was accompanied by the weakened remains of hurricane Betsy (demoted to a lowpressure area). Total registration was expected to reach about 12,000. In his Presidential address, "The New Era in Science," Dr. Charles C. Price pointed to the achievements of chemistry and its part in a new stage that "we are now reaching in the exploration and exploitation of science." Dr. Price suggests "a timely question of great public importance" to which the scientific community and the Government should now be giving serious consideration: the setting of the
synthesis of life as a national goal. Perhaps in coping with a problem of this magnitude, he says, we can see how we can better organize the new era in science to meet public needs and promote human welfare. At the General Meeting, Dr. Price announced the membership of the newly created top level ACS Committee on Chemistry and Public Policy. Chairman of the new committee is Dr. Price; the other members are Dr. Robert W. Cairns, Dr. Lloyd M. Cooke, Dr. Theodore L. Cairns, Dr. William J. Sparks, Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg, Dr. Milton Harris, Dr. Melvin Calvin, Dr. Herbert E. Carter, and Dr. W. O. Baker. The Board of Directors selected Dr. William O. Baker as the 1966 Priestley Medalist. The medal, the highest
Laitinen to Edit Analytical Chemistry
Dr. Herbert A. Laitinen will become editor of Analytical Chemistry in January. He will succeed Dr. Lawrence T. Hallett, who will retire at the end of this year. Dr. Laitinen's appointment was dis-
closed during the 150th ACS National Meeting. Although his title does not become effective until Jan. 1, he will begin working into his duties before the end of this year. Dr. Laitinen is associate head of University of Illinois' department of chemistry and chemical engineering. He is also head of the department's division of analytical chemistry. He will maintain an editorial office at the university's department of chemistry and chemical engineering in Urbana
Dr. L. T. Hallett Retiring from Analytical
Dr. H. A. Laitinen New editor to take helm
Successor to Hallett is member of Illinois faculty
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honor in American chemistry, will be presented at the 151st ACS National Meeting next March, in Pittsburgh. Dr. Baker, who will receive the medal in recognition of "distinguished services to chemistry," is vice president for research of Bell Telephone Laboratories. (For other ACS award winners, see page 96.) A feature of the General Meeting was a progress report by Dr. Frank H. Westheimer, professor of chemistry at Harvard, on the work of his Committee for the Survey of Chemistry of the National Academy of SciencesNational Research Council. The full report, which has been nearly two years in the making, has gone to the printer. The committee is convinced, he says, that an excellent case can be made for federal support of basic research in chemistry. "Our philosophy is this: Basic research in chemistry should be supported by the Federal Government if, and to the extent that, it contributes to . . . our country." The committee found how much money goes into university research
in addition to the regular Analytical Chemistry editorial offices in the ACS headquarters building in Washington, D.C. Dr. Laitinen was born in 1915 near Wadena, Minn. He received his bachelor's degree in 1936 and his Ph.D. in 1940 from the University of Minnesota. He has been on the Illinois faculty since 1940. With electroanalytical chemistry as his principal research interest, Dr. Laitinen has published papers dealing with polarography, amperometric titrations, nonaqueous and molten salt solvents, and surface effects. He received the Fisher Award in Analytical Chemistry in 1961. In 1953 and in 1962 he received Guggenheim Fellowships. Dr. Hallett was one of the organizers of the Society's Division of Analytical Chemistry (originally called the Microchemical Division) and was division chairman in 1939. He was appointed associate editor of Analytical Chemistry in 1944 and was named editor in 1956. He retired from General Aniline & Film in 1956. Last year, Dr. Hallett received the Anachem Award of the Association of Analytical Chemists, Detroit. After leaving his editorial post, he will continue to do consulting work.
