All Resource articles – Page 77

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On This Day - Jan 05 : Harold Clayton Urey died

He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of deuterium in heavy water. Deuterium (²H) is an isotope of hydrogen that contains an extra neutron.
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On This Day - Dec 29 : Discovery of heavy water

The American physical chemist found that heavy water is highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium (²H), and is used in many applications such as nuclear magnetic resonance, neutron moderation in nuclear power plants and organic chemistry.
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On This Day - Dec 30 : Tungsten filaments patent

American physicist William David Coolidge brought tungsten (W) from laboratory obscurity to the centre of the industrial stage and gave the x-ray a central role in the progress of medicine throughout the world.
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On This Day - Dec 09 : Fritz Haber was born

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his work on the fixation of nitrogen (N₂) from the air. This discovery is not only important for fertilisers but also explosives. He has since been described as the father of chemical warfare.
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On This Day - Nov 17 : Nicolas Lemery was born

His research focus was in the area of acid-base chemistry, but he also prepared a comprehensive dictionary of pharmaceuticals and wrote a chemistry textbook Cours de chymie (1675) that had 31 editions by 1756!
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On This Day - Nov 10 : Ernst Otto Fischer was born

He was the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1973 for determining the structure of ferrocene (Fe(C₅H₅)₂), a single iron (Fe) atom sandwiched between two five-sided carbon rings. There are many analogues of ferrocene, which together have led to the rapid growth of organometallic chemistry.
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On This Day - Jun 06 : Richard Smalley was born

Smalley shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl Jr. and Harold Kroto for the discovery of the fullerenes. These are forms of carbon that are either spherical (buckminsterfullerene), tubular (carbon nanotubes) or planar (graphene).
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On This Day - May 22 : Herbert Brown was born

He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979 with Georg Wittig for their contributions to the use of boron- and phosphorous-containing compounds. These compounds are important reagents which are now routinely used in organic synthesis.
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On This Day – Jul 09 : Amedeo Avogadro died

His hypothesis – now known as Avogadro’s Law – states that equal volumes of gases at a given temperature and pressure contain the same number of molecules. This is now widely accepted, and the number of molecules in a mole is referred to as Avogadro’s number, 6.023 x 10²³.
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On This Day - Oct 11 : Nobel prize for ozone

They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the formation and decomposition of ozone (O₃). Their research showed that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) cause holes in the Earth’s protective ozone layer.
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On This Day - Apr 08 : Melvin Calvin was born

He is most famed for discovering the Calvin cycle, the pathway for carbon dioxide (CO₂) assimilation in plants. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961 for this work.
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On This Day - Apr 04 : Synthesis of Vitamin B6

Merck, Sharp and Dohme were the first to artificially synthesise Vitamin B6, which is required for good health. It has a role in the production of haemoglobin – the molecule that carries oxygen (O2) around our bodies – and regulates blood sugar levels. Related resources: Haemoglobin podcast
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On This Day - Apr 03 : New soap-making process

William Gossage, a chemical manufacturer and founder of the Gossage soap company, patented the process for adding sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃) to soap. Sodium silicate acts as a mild abrasive, a pH buffer and reduces the hardness of water.
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On This Day - May 02: Nicholson split water

The English chemist discovered that when leads from a battery are placed in water (H₂O), the water breaks up into hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂) bubbles, which collect separately at the submerged ends of the wires. This process is called electrolysis.
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On This Day - May 01 : AC motor patented

Not only was this the first alternating current (AC) motor, but it also heralded a new system of power transmission, which is the basis for the mains power we use today. The Serbian-American physicist, engineer and inventor is recognised as one of the pioneers of electric power.
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On This Day - Jun 01 : Flixborough disaster

A temporary pipe containing cyclohexane caught fire and burst. It left 28 people dead, 36 injured and around 1800 nearby buildings damaged. Consequently, UK government regulations in hazardous industrial processes were significantly tightened.
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On This Day - Oct 01 : Thalidomide was marketed

This notorious drug was marketed as a mild sleeping pill that was safe even for pregnant women. It wasn’t until 1962 that the severe side effects were revealed, where it had caused the development of malformed limbs in babies.
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On This Day - Dec 01 : Martin Klaproth was born

In 1789 he discovered uranium (U), which was named after the planet Uranus. This planet was actually discovered eight years earlier by another German scientist, William Hershel.
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On This Day - Mar 02 : Discovery of radioactivity

Becquerel discovered that potassium uranium sulfate crystals can produce images on photographic plates even when kept in the dark. He deduced that the crystals must spontaneously emit radiation, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 along with Marie Curie. Related resources: 175 Faces of chemistry ...
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On This Day - Apr 02 : Theodore Richards died

He determined accurate measurements of elemental atomic weights, suggesting the existence of isotopes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914 as recognition of his work.