William A. Noyes

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William Albert Noyes
University of Illinois
Doctoral advisorIra Remsen
Doctoral studentsCarl Shipp Marvel

William Albert Noyes (November 6, 1857 – October 24, 1941) was an American

University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign from 1907 to 1926, was the founder and editor of several important chemical journals, and received the American Chemical Society's highest award, the Priestley Medal
, in 1935.

Early life and education

Noyes was born on November 6, 1857, near

Ph.D. in 1882. His doctoral dissertation "On the oxidation of benzene with chromic acid" was completed in only one and a half years (despite his also having to do water analyses to earn a living). Grinnell also awarded him an A.M.
degree for this work.

Career

After receiving his doctorate, Noyes taught a year as an instructor at the

atomic weights led to "one of the most precise chemical determinations ever made", the ratio of the masses of hydrogen to oxygen (which he found to be 1.00787:16). With H.C.P. Weber, he received the Nichols Medal (chemistry) in 1908 for determining the atomic weight of chlorine
.

In 1907 he became

University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, a position he would hold until 1926. In the process, he helped it to become one of the leading departments of chemistry in the United States. Despite his earlier work in analytical chemistry, Noyes is perhaps best known as an organic chemist. He was the first to prove the structure of camphor definitively and studied rearrangements in camphor and related compounds. He also worked on "electronic theories of valence, and the valence and nature of nitrogen in nitrogen trichloride" as well as developing "methods for the determination of phosphorus, sulfur, and manganese in iron
".

Editor

Noyes was the

First World War, Noyes sought to promote international understanding and to reestablish harmonic relations between French and German
chemists.

Death and honors

Noyes was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1910,[2] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913,[3] and the American Philosophical Society in 1914.[4] Noyes received the Priestley Medal, the American Chemical Society's highest award, in 1935.[5] He died on October 24, 1941.

The

ACS National Historical Chemical Landmark
by the ACS in its 100th year, 2002.

Family

Noyes was the youngest son of Spencer W. Noyes and Mary Noyes, and was born on their farm. His first wife was Flora Collier Noyes. They had several children, but all except

William, (born April 18, 1898, in Terre Haute, Indiana) died in early childhood. Flora was in poor health for some years before her death in March 1900. Noyes remarried in 1901 and had a son, Charles, in 1904. His second wife died of a stroke in August 1914. In the fall of 1915, Noyes married his third wife, Katharine Macy Noyes. They had two sons, Richard and Pierre
. William, Richard, and Pierre all followed their father into the sciences and academia.

References

  1. ^ Who's Who in Science (First ed.). Marquis. 1968.
  2. ^ "William Noyes". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  3. ^ "William Albert Noyes". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  4. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  5. ^ Raber, Linda (April 7, 2008). "1935: William Albert Noyes (1857–1941) and 1954: W. Albert Noyes Jr. (1898–1980)". pubsapp.acs.org/cen/priestley/. C&EN. Retrieved 2023-02-13.

Notes

External links

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