DED UN 18 O 98 F http://www.nesacs.org N Y O T R E I T H C E N O A E S S S L T A E A C R C I N S M S E E H C C TI N O CA March 2019 Vol. XCVII, No.7 N • AMERI Monthly Meeting 2018 Richards Award to Chad A. Mirkin at Harvard Who Was Theodore William Richards? By M. S. Simon Volunteering with the United States Pharmacopeia By Chris Moreton Carolyn R. Bertozzi to Receive 2019 Esselen Award rings of Saturn through a four-inch tele- and precise. Hence, in trying to satisfy Who was scope by Professor Josiah Parsons a desire which had as its object the dis- Cooke, Jr. of Harvard while the family covery of more knowledge concerning Theodore was at Newport, R.I. the fundamental nature of things, one At ten he was making Pharaoh’s naturally assigns to the atomic weights Serpents with mercuric thiocyanate and an important place.” William coloring flames with various salts. He In the following years Richards and obtained money to set up a chemistry his students (if we include independent Richards? laboratory when he was 13 by printing work of Baxter and Hönigschmid, who on a hand press, copywriting, and sell- had been trained by him) determined the by M.S. Simon ing an edition of his mother’s sonnets. atomic weight of 55 of the 92 known el- Adapted from The NUCLEUS, 1996 (3) He was allowed to attend chemistry ements, in many cases in parts per ten 4 ff lectures at the University of Pennsylva- thousand, in some, parts per hundred nia, and at 14 entered and studied chem- thousand. All of the elements whose The first award of what, at that time, istry at Haverford. He received the atomic weights were the basis for deter- was known as the Theodore William Bachelor of Science at 17. He went to mining the atomic weights of other ele- Richards Gold Medal (the medal is still Harvard to study under Cooke and re- ments were determined. His work on gold, with a silver replica for informal ceived a Bachelor of Arts and, at 20, lead from uranium and from non-ra- display) was made to Arthur Amos after a year of very difficult research in dioactive sources advanced acceptance Noyes in 1932. The Section Chairman, which he demonstrated exceptional ex- of the theory of isotopes, the only con- William Ryan, introduced the occasion perimental skills in determining the clusive evidence until the development with the following quotation by Henry atomic weight ratio of oxygen to hydro- of the mass spectrograph. Watterson: gen in water, earned the Ph.D. degree. He was always respectful to those A mound of earth a little higher graded A year in Europe gave him the opportu- on whose shoulders he was standing, J.J. Perhaps upon a stone a chiselled name, nity of studying analytical techniques at Berzelius and J.S. Stas, pioneers in A daub of printer’s ink soon blurred and Göttingen and visiting important labo- atomic weight determination, but when faded ratories in Germany, France, England, his superior methods showed that the And then — oblivion. That — that is and Switzerland. Stas values had to be revised, he took fame. He returned to Harvard in 1889 as the mantle on his own shoulders. A an assistant and remained there for the modest man, only after searching dili- Ryan went to point out that Watterson, rest of his years. When Cooke died, in gently for his own possible errors would as an observer in national politics, had 1892, Richards, already an assistant pro- he conclude that the Stas work had to be developed a cynical attitude toward self- fessor, was sent to Ostwald at Leipzig superseded. seeking politicians, and Ryan contrasts and Nernst at Göttingen to prepare him- He was guided to success by “his the impermanence of reputation of such self to become the instructor in physical ability to foresee all sources of error and with the seekers of truth for truth’s sake chemistry. His rise to full professorship possible calamities which the average for whom true fame is imperishable. at Harvard in 1901 came quickly, when investigator would have overlooked With reference to Richards he said, Göttingen attempted to recruit him. completely,” reported his son-in-law, “True fame ... lives on, not merely to His early work centered one what James B. Conant. perpetuate the name of the individual at the time was one of the major scien- Richards put it thus, “Every sub- and his accomplishments, but rather to tific problems, that of determining exact stance must be assumed to be impure, inspire and encourage others who are atomic weights. He explained his every reaction must be assumed to be in- serving similar ends.” choice, “not merely because I felt more complete, every method of measurement But in our age, when only “fifteen competent in that direction than in any must be assumed to contain some con- minutes” of fame are allowed, it be- other, but also because atomic weights stant error, until proof to the contrary hooves us to keep alive the names and seemed to be one of the primal mysteries can be obtained. As little as possible accomplishments of our predecessors in of the universe. They are values which must be taken for granted.” chemistry. The Northeastern Section has no man by taking thought can change. It is illuminating to consider that many great chemists, but the earliest of They seem to be independent of place much of his work was conducted in the internationally renowned was and time. They are silent witnesses of the Boylston Hall, where his laboratory had Theodore William Richards. His Nobel very beginnings of the universe, and the been a stockroom, where the iron sashes Prize in Chemistry, awarded in 1914, half-hidden, half-disclosed symmetry of of the fume hood rained rust, and a flood was the first given an American chemist. the periodic system of the elements only on the floor above caused the ceiling to He was born in Germantown in enhances one’s curiosity about them. collapse on him; where fumes from else- 1868, was educated at home by his Moreover, among the many properties where in the building could ruin his ex- mother, a poet, and his father, a marine possessed by an element, the atomic periments. Finally, the Wolcott Gibbs artist. He became interested in science weight seems one of the most definite at the age of six when he was shown the continued on page 8 2 The Nucleus March 2019 The Northeastern Section of the American- Chemical Society, Inc. Contents Office: Anna Singer, 12 Corcoran Road, Burlington, MA 01803 (Voice or FAX) (781) 272-1966. Who Was Theodore William Richards? 2 e-mail: [email protected] ______________________ NESACS Homepage: By Myron S. Simon http://www.NESACS.org Officers 2019 Carolynn R. Bertozzi to Receive 2019 Esselen Award 4 Chair __________ Andrew Scholte Sanofi-Genzyme Monthly Meeting 5 153 2nd Ave _______________________________________ Waltham, MA 02451-1122 Richards Award Meeting at Harvard, Chad A. Mirkin, Northwestern University, [email protected] to receive 2018 Richards Award. Chair-Elect Anna W. Sromek Volunteering with the United States Pharmacopeia 6 115 Mill Street, ____________ Belmont, MA 02478 [email protected] Past Recipients of the Theodore Williams Richards Award 8 Immediate Past Chair ______ Mindy Levine 2019 Quantum Matters Competition 9 35 Cottage St _______________________ Sharon, MA 02067-2130 (516)697-9688 Professor Joseph S. Francisco to speak at Northeastern 10 [email protected] ______ Secretary Michael Singer Invite for the CCEW Event at the Museum of Science Boston 11 MilliporeSigma ___ 400 Summit Drive, Burlington, MA 01803 (781)-229-7037, Photos from the January Monthly Meeting 12 [email protected] __________________ Treasurer By Brian D’Amico Ashis Saha 67 Bow St A Cartoon by Sidney Harris 14 Arlington, MA 02474-2744 ______________________________ (978)212-5462 Business Directory 15 [email protected] ____________________________________ Archivist Ken Mattes Seminar Calendar 16 Trustees _____________________________________ Dorothy Phillips, Ruth Tanner, Peter C. Meltzer Cover: Directors-at-Large 2018 Richards Award Recipient, Professor Chad A. Mirkin, Northwest- David Harris, June Lum, Michael P. Filosa, ern University (Photograph by Matt Gilson). John M. Burke, James U. Piper, Ralph Scannell Councilors/Alternate Councilors Editorial Deadlines: Term Ends 12/31/2019 May 2019 Issue: March 22, 2019 Thomas R. Gilbert Mary A. Mahaney Summer-September Issue: July 22, 2019 Mary Jane Shultz Jerry P. Jasinski Michael Singer Matthew M. Jacobsen Lisa Marcaurelle Ajay Purohit Leland L. Johnson, Jr. Hicham Fenniri Term Ends 12/31/2020 Michael P. Filosa Sonja Strah-Pleynet Carol Mulrooney Patrick M. Gordon Patricia A. Mabrouk Patrick Cappillino The Nucleus is published monthly, except June and August, by the Northeastern Section of the American Anna Sromek Raj (SB) Rajur Chemical Society, Inc. Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue. Text Sofia A. Santos Ashis Saha must be received by the editor six weeks before the date of issue. Term Ends 12/31/2021 Editor: Michael P. Filosa, Ph.D., 18 Tamarack Road, Medfield, MA 02052 Email: Catherine E. Costello Kenneth Mattes Ruth Tanner Joshua Sacher [email protected]; Tel: 508-843-9070 Andrew Scholte Mariam Ismail Associate Editors: Myron S. Simon, 60 Seminary Ave. apt 272, Auburndale, MA 02466 June Lum Malika Jeffries-EL Morton Z. Hoffman, 23 Williams Rd., Norton, MA 02766 Morton Z. Hoffman Dajit Matharu Board of Publications: Ajay Purohit (Chair), Mary Mahaney, Ken Drew, Katherine Lee, Katherine Rubino All Chairs of standing Business Manager: Vacant: contact Michael Filosa at [email protected] Committees, the editor of THE NUCLEUS, and Advertising Manager: Vacant: contact Michael Filosa at [email protected] the Trustees of Section Calendar Coordinator: Samurdhi Wijesundera, Email: [email protected] Funds are members of the Photographers: Brian D’Amico, Morton Z.