JANUARY, 1952
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ODD HASSEL RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
ODDHASSEL,the eminent Norwegian physical chemist, was born a t Oslo on May 17, 1897. After graduation from the University of Oslo in 1920, he continued (1922-25) his studies at Munich and then a t Berlin. He held a Rockefeller Fellowship, 1924-25. The Ph.D. was conferred by the University of Berlin in 1924. From 1925 to 1934 Dr. Hassel was lecturer in physical chemistry a t Oslo; in 1934 he was advanced to a full professorship, a position he has completely held up to the present day. His researches have dealt mostly with various topics in physical chemistry. A steady stream of worth-while papers have come from his laboratory. His chief interests have centered around crystal structure and molecular stmcture. His conclusions have been based on X-ray diffraction studies, measurements of dipole moments, and investigation of scattering of electrons by vapors. Since 1939 the "rotating sector" method of electron diffraction has been developed in his laboratory and applied to a series of problems relating to the establishment of the configuration of "free" molecules. Papers dealing with the significance of van der Waals
distances in separate molecules, especially with reference to cyclohexane and its derivatives, decalm, and other six-membered rings, have been worthy of special notice. He has made an extensive study of the stmcture of cis decalin and a series of cyclohexane derivatives (including benzene hexachloride). In the field of preparative chemistry he has explored the preparation of the cylohexane series and related compounds. Professor Hassel's "Kristallchemie" was published at Dresden in 1934; following an urgent demand, an English translation by R. C. Evans, "Crystal Chemistry," was issued the next year. A member of the Norwegian Academy of Science since 1933, Professor Hassel also belongs to the Norwegian Research Council for Science and Humanities, and since 1949 has been chairman of its Mathematics and Natural Science section. He has been Norwegiah Editor of Arta Chimiea Seandinauica since 1947. Professor Hassel received the Fridtjof Nansen Award in 1946; in 1950 the University of Copenhagen conferred the Ph.D. honoris causa on this distinguished Scandinavian chemist.
