All Resource articles – Page 84

Resource
On This Day - May 30 : Krypton was discovered

Krypton (Kr) was discovered by William Ramsay and Morris Travers. Its name is derived from the Greek “kryptos”, meaning hidden. Krypton is one of the rarest gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, accounting for only 1 part per million by volume.
Resource
On This Day – Jul 30 : John Antoine Chaptal died

He authored the first book on industrial chemistry, and coined the name “nitrogen”. Chaptal also helped improve the technology used to manufacture sulfuric acid, saltpetre for gunpowder, beetroot sugar and wine, amongst other things.
Resource
On This Day – Aug 30 : Jacobus van't Hoff was born

He was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Van’t Hoff was a pioneer in chemical kinetics, reaction equilibria and stereochemistry. He also helped to found the discipline of physical chemistry.
Resource
On This Day - Nov 30 : Smithson Tennant was born

He discovered iridium (Ir) and osmium (Os), the latter named for the unpleasant odour of some of its compounds (from the Greek word ‘osme’ meaning odour). He also proved that diamonds are pure carbon.
Resource
On This Day - May 31 : Louis Ignarro was born

Ignarro was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signalling molecule, controlling the expansion and contraction of blood vessels.
Resource
On This Day – Jul 31 : Gene therapy in USA

Gene therapy uses DNA to treat disease, usually by replacing a faulty gene with a healthy copy. Recent clinical studies suggest this technique holds promise for the future treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Resource
On This Day – Aug 31 : First chemotherapeutic drug

German scientist Paul Ehrlich coined the term ‘chemotherapy’ to describe what he called a ‘magic bullet’: a substance that could find and kill infectious microbes without harming the host. Chemotherapy still plays a very important role in cancer treatment today.
Resource
On This Day - Oct 31 : Robert Mulliken died

He was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on chemical bonds and describing the electronic structure of molecules using the molecular orbital method. His research still leads this field.
Resource
On This Day - Dec 31 : Drunkometer was invented

Invented by Rolla N. Harger of Indiana University School of Medicine, it was the first successful machine for testing blood alcohol content through breath testing. The machine used acidified potassium permanganate solution as a colour indicator for the amount of alcohol present.
Resource
On This Day – Jan 01: Eugène Demarcay was born

In 1901 he used spectroscopy to analyse material that had been carefully separated from samarium magnesium nitrate and discovered the element europium (Eu). His specialist knowledge of spectroscopy also helped Marie Curie confirm she had discovered radium (Ra). Related resources: Marie Curie and Aspects of the History of ...
Resource
On This Day - Feb 01 : Roger Tsien was born

He shares the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Martin Chalfie for their discovery of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). GFP is a protein that glows bright green in the presence of blue light and is found in Aequorea victoria jellyfish.
Resource
On This Day – Jan 02 : Rudolf Clausius was born

He was one of the central founders of thermodynamics. He introduced the concept of entropy and stated the second law of thermodynamics for the first time. He also introduced concepts of kinetic theory to explain motion of gas molecules, in particular the mean free path of particles.
Resource
On This Day - Feb 03 : Edmond Frémy died

He is best known for Frémy’s salt (potassium nitrosodisulfonate), which is a strong oxidising agent that he discovered in 1845. This salt is a long-lived free radical that can be used as a standard in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy.
Resource
On This Day - Feb 04 : Plunkett patented Teflon

Teflon is the brand name for polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a fluorinated plastic. It is used as a non-stick coating for pans because of its inertness and extreme slipperiness. It is the only known material to which gecko’s feet cannot stick!
Resource
On This Day - Jan 06 : Anselme Payen was born

He is known for discovering the first enzyme diastase, and the carbohydrate cellulose, which is the most abundant organic compound on Earth. He also developed a process to industrially synthesise borax from boric acid that broke the Dutch monopoly on mined borax.
Resource
On This Day - Feb 06 : Discovery of germanium

Germanium (Ge) is a silvery semi-metal element used in semiconductors. It is used as a transistor in thousands of types of electronics.
Resource
On This Day - Jan 07: Patent for thermal cracking

This process involves breaking down large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones, which increases the amount of gasoline that refineries can produce from a barrel of crude oil.
Resource
On This Day - Jan 08 : Melvin Calvin died

He was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the Calvin cycle. The Calvin cycle is a series of reactions that describe carbon (C) fixing in plants. Related resources: Photosynthesis Carbon - Element information
Resource
On This Day - Feb 08 : Moses Gomberg was born

He discovered the first stable free radical triphenylmethyl during attempts to prepare the even more sterically hindered hydrocarbon hexaphenylethane. He was since known as the founder of radical chemistry.
Resource
On This Day - Jan 09 : Søren Sørensen was born

He developed the pH scale (which ranges from 0-14) at the Carlsberg Laboratory in Denmark. This was the first time that the negative logarithm of proton (H⁺) concentration was used as a measure of acidity.