David Lewis, a UW-Eau Claire Chemistry professor, will be honored today by the American Chemical Society (ACS) for his research in the history of chemistry – that is, Russian chemistry.
His outside-the-lab historical research has focused on the major role played by Russian chemists, particularly the chemistry faculty at Kazan Federal University, in developing the theoretical base for modern organic chemistry.
Lewis will be recognized by the History of Chemistry division of the ACS with its 2018 HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry. The award is international in scope and has been presented since 1956.
Lewis, who has been on the UW-EC faculty since 1997, will give a lecture as part of the presentation proceedings, which will also feature a symposium honoring his work. He will receive a plaque and an award of $1,500 plus an equal amount in travel funding. The program is part of the ACS’ annual fall meeting in Boston.
Lewis’ lecture is entitled “1859-1861: Magic Years.” He said it will focus on the time span “where the path of organic chemistry took a right-hand turn” with the development and promulgation of a new theory that resulted in a new era in the science..
“The advances made in those years were pivotal to the development of modern organic chemistry,” he said in a recent interview.
He added that the debates about competing theories of organic chemistry between 1859 and 1861 were in part a result of a generation gap, with younger chemists leading the move away from older theories.
Lewis, whose laboratory research is focused on synthetic organic chemistry. will make his sixth visit to Russia next month. He has been invited to deliver a lecture at a conference where the official language will be Russian, and said he hopes to deliver his talk at least partly in that language.
His 2012 book, Early Russian Organic Chemists and their Legacy, is generally regarded as the most authoritative contribution to this field.
Kazan Federal University, which traces its history back to 1804, became the premier chemistry school in Russia. It is located in a 1,000-year-old city located some 600 miles east of Moscow, along the Volga River.
Note: An incomplete version of this story was inadvertently posted briefly Thursday night while several technical chemistry details still remained to be checked for accuracy. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. The problem seems to stem from a computer that was certain it knew more about the editing process than we do.