Eminent Organic Chemists' Videos

The Division of Organic Chemistry (ORGN) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) celebrated its 100th birthday in 2008. As part of this celebration, ORGN hosted a Centennial Symposium at the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia on August 18, 2008. The day before the symposium, with the support of ORGN and its then Chair, Bob Volkmann, Jeffrey I. Seeman of the University of Richmond conducted video interviews of 20 scientists where one goal was to reveal the human side of eminent organic chemists.

Seeman’s Commentary: “People ask: ‘Who are chemists? How do they work together? What are the sources of their energy and their passion?’ The media of video provides a rich opportunity to connect, very personally, with the world around us and with people who live and work far away. These videos also provide an archival record of our times. How wonderful it would be if we had video interviews with Joseph Priestley, Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur, Dmitri Mendeleev and others.