Roger Adams Delivers First Remsen Memorial Lecture at Johns Hopkins A S T A F F REPORT
J. H E first Reinsen .Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Maryland Section, ACS, was delivered by Roger Adancis, of the University of Illinois and chairmtan of the board of directors oif the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, at
Johns Ho>pkins
University, on. Friday, M a y 24. Thte lectureship, fittingly established in t h e centennial year of his birth, flionors the memory of Ira Remsen, late pix?fessor of cïhemistry and president of Johns Hopkins University. His present-day successor as president of the University, Isaiah Bowman, spoke briefly- about Remsen a n d his influence as a teacher, and Alsop>h II. Corwin, chairman, of t h o department of chemistry at Johns Hopkins, intro-duccd Dr. Adams who spoke o n "Chcmicsl Research in the War and Postwar Periods". Giles B. Cooke, chairmaiu of the Maryland Section, presided a.t the meeting w h i c h was held in Remsen K a i l off* the university campus. T h e meeting w a s precedent by a dinner at the Faculty Cliab. Career of Ira
Rewnsen
Speaking of Remsen's career, D r . Bowman said that in addition to his peculiar ability and genius, there w a s an elemaentof luck in that he came upon the scene mt just the right time (acknowledging thari; it i s altogether wise a n d proper to adnait the element of luck provided w e do not depend on i t ) . "But on t o p of ithat luck h?e built a great structure o f experience and o f prolonged and hard study, part of it abroad, so that when he returned and tools up a post, he was prepared as few m e n i n America were prepared t o advance along promising lines, t o see vistas of creative work that were denied t o those who»» lacked the thorough a n d fundamental training that he had acquired." Remsen's influence, a s spread through his textbooks, w a s enormous. D r . Bowman reported t h a t five o f his b o o l i s published by Henry H o l t anil Co. went through 127 printings w i t h a tc*tal distribution of 420,000 copies. In addition, theare were two books by other publishers- which brought the total closes to half a million. "And if we consider h o w books aare often bought and resold by sfciadents," continued Dr. Bowman, " i t is clear that soxnething above seven, figures mesasures the number of students who* used I r a Remsem's textbooks. That is almost; equal to -*ho prewar enrollment of all! the colleges and universities in t l i e United States, truly a great host." I n addition to these Eigures are those for
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French, Russian, Finnish, Chinese, b.nd Japanese editions o f o n e of his books. "It is well within tfcie truth, therefore, t o say that millions of s t u d e n t s in practically all of the scientifically progressive countries of t h e world stixdied in the laboratory and felt the intellectual impulse of Ira Remsen." As president of J o h n s Hopkins University, Remsen was honored by his contemporaries and remembered with, pride, concluded Dr. B o w m a n . "All w h o know his work, whether b y reflection from other men's minds or b y direct acquaintance and collaboration, j o i n in regarding him a s one of the great mein in America.'* Roger
Adams
I n introducing t i i e Remsen Memorial Lecturer, Professor Corwin cited D r . Adams' numerous contributions t o the techniques of the laboratory and termed him "a chemist's chemist"- " H e has improved methods of identification and preparation of naw substances, d e v i s e d new methods of synthesis, and in general lightened t h e load of t h e practitioxner of the art. He h a s made extensive contributions to o u r understanding of chemieal reactions, chemical structures, and striaetural theory. . . . I n the fall of 1910, shtortly after he received his master's degree, t h e first scientific paper appeared im which Roger Adams was co-author, thins initiating o n e of t h e
most remarkable records of chemical publication in existence. During the past three decades, he has published solid, scholarly contributions t o the science and art of chemistry a t the sustained rate of one a month." Among t h e most gratifying of Dr Adams'·" hievements, continued Professoi Corwin, must be his initiation and guidance of the early chemical careers of students. Some of his men who have contributed heavily to the development of organic chemistry in this country are Brode of Ohio State, Carothers of nylon fame, Johnson of Cornell, McElvain of Wisconsin, Noller of Stanford, Shriner of Indiana, Stanley of the Rockefeller Institute, and Voiwiler of Abbott Laboratories. " I t is especially fitting that an influential teacher in the Remsen tradition should be the first Remsen Memorial Lecturer." Reviewing Dr. Adams' recent activities, Professor Corwin stated that his position as a member of the National Defense Research Committee brought Dr. Adams into intimate contact with the far-flung activities of chemists in the war. He has recently returned from four months i n Germany where he served as chairman of the Committee on Chemical and Engineering Research Control and as scientific adviser to the Deputy Military Governor of Germany. His lecture, on chemical research in war and postwar periods, follows.
Roger Mtlams receives Remsen Memorial Lectureship from imiies If. Coohem chair mart of the Maryland Section^
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