The HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry (2013-present) is given by the Division of the History of Chemistry of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

(ACS). The award was originally known as the Dexter Award (1956-2001) and then briefly as the Sidney M. Edelstein Award (2002-2009), both given by the ACS. The Dexter Award was originally established by Sidney Milton Edelstein, a founder of the Dexter Chemical Corporation, to recognize an "outstanding career of contributions to the history of chemistry". As the Dexter Award, it was sponsored by the Dexter Corporation except for its final two years, when it was sponsored by the Mildred and Sidney Edelstein Foundation. The award was briefly known as the Sidney M. Edelstein Award from 2002 to 2009, but was still given by the ACS. As such, the Sidney M. Edelstein Award should be distinguished from the Sidney Edelstein Prize (1968-present), which has been given continuously since 1968 by the

Society for the History of Technology The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) is the primary professional society for historians of technology. SHOT was founded in 1958 in the United States, and it has since become an international society with members "from some thirty-five ...

to recognize "an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology."

Recipients

HIST Award (2013-present)

* 2021

Mary Virginia Orna Mary Virginia Orna (born 1934, in New Jersey) is an American color chemist, historian of science, and professor emerita of the College of New Rochelle. Orna will receive the 2021 HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry ...

* 2020

Lawrence M. Principe Lawrence M. Principe () is the Drew Professor of the Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of History of Science and Technology and the Department of Chemistry. He is also currently the Director of the Charles Singleton Center f ...

* 2019

Otto Theodor Benfey Otto Theodor Benfey (born 31 October 1925) is a chemist and historian of science. Sent to England to escape Nazi Germany at age 10, he completed his education as a chemist at University College London before moving to the United States. A Quake ...

* 2018 David E. Lewis * 2017 Jeffrey I. Seeman * 2016

Ursula Klein Ursula Klein (born 1952) is a German historian of science known for her cross-disciplinary work on the historical emergence of scientific and technological knowledge. She is a senior research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of ...

* 2015

Christoph Meinel Christoph Meinel (born April 14, 1954 in Meissen, Meißen, Germany) is a German computer scientist and professor of Internet technologies and systems at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) of the University of Potsdam. In the years 2004 to 2023 he ...

* 2014

Ernst Homburg Ernst Homburg (born 2 August 1952 in Venlo) is a Dutch emeritus professor of History of Science and Technology at Maastricht University. He published on the History of Chemistry and Technology in the 19th and 20th century in the Netherlands and E ...

* 2013 William R. Newman * 2012 No Award * 2011 No Award

Sidney M. Edelstein Award (2002-2009)

* 2009 Trevor Harvey Levere * 2008

John Shipley Rowlinson Sir John Shipley Rowlinson (12 May 1926 – 15 August 2018) was a British chemist. He attended Oxford University, where he completed his undergraduate studies in 1948 and doctoral in 1950. He then became research associate at University of Wisco ...

* 2007 Anthony S. Travis * 2006

Peter J. T. Morris Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

(Peter John Turnbull Morris) * 2005

William B. Jensen William B. Jensen (born March 25, 1948 in Marshfield, Wisconsin) is an American chemist and chemical historian. Jensen, son of a sign painter and librarian, went to school in Wausau, Wisconsin. He became interested in chemistry at an early age and ...

* 2004

Joseph B. Lambert Joseph B. Lambert (born 1940) is an educator, organic chemist, archaeological chemist, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopist. He grew up in the San Antonio, Texas, area and graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1958. He was educated ...

* 2003

David M. Knight David Marcus Knight (30 November 1936 – 19 January 2018) was Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at Durham University. Life The son of the Reverend Marcus Knight, later Dean of Exeter, he read chemistry at Keble College, Oxfo ...

* 2002

John Parascandola John Parascandola (born July 14, 1941) is an American medical historian. He has written numerous books, including ''The Development of American Pharmacology: John J. Abel and the Shaping of a Discipline'', and held the position of Public Health ...

Dexter Award (1956-2001)

* 2001

William Arthur Smeaton William Arthur Smeaton (October 24, 1924, Broughty Ferry – January 22, 2001, Cambridge) was a British chemist and historian of science, who wrote more than seventy-five articles and several books on the history of chemistry in France in the 18t ...

* 2000 * 1999

Mary Jo Nye Mary Jo Nye (born December 5, 1944) is an American historian of science and Horning Professor in the Humanities emerita of the History Department at Oregon State University. She is known for her work on the relationships between scientific discov ...

* 1998 * 1997

Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (born 7 July 1949) is a French philosopher, historian and historian of science and a professor emeritus at University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. She considers the study of the history of science to be essential fo ...

* 1996

Keith J. Laidler Keith James Laidler (January 3, 1916 – August 26, 2003), born in England, was notable as a pioneer in chemical kinetics and authority on the physical chemistry of enzymes. Education Laidler received his early education at Liverpool College. H ...

* 1995

William H. Brock William Hodson Brock (born 1936) is a British chemist and science historian. Brock was born in Brighton. He studied chemistry at University College London and the history and philosophy of science at the University of Leicester to become a lectu ...

* 1994

Frederic L. Holmes Frederic Lawrence Holmes (6 February 1932, Cincinnati, Ohio – 21 March 2003, New Haven, Connecticut) was an American historian of science, specifically for chemistry, medicine and biology. Holmes earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Massa ...

* 1993

Joseph S. Fruton Joseph Stewart Fruton (May 14, 1912 – July 29, 2007), born Joseph Fruchtgarten, was a Polish-American biochemist and historian of science. His most significant scientific work involved synthetic peptides and their interactions with proteases; ...

* 1992 John T. Stock * 1991

Owen Hannaway Owen Hannaway (8 October 1939 - 21 January 2006) was a Scottish historian. Life He was born on 8 October 1939 in Glasgow, and educated at St Aloysius' College and Glasgow University. He died in 2006. Career He completed his PhD in Chemistr ...

* 1990

Colin A. Russell Colin Archibald Russell ( – ) was Emeritus Professor of History of Science and Technology at the Open University and was a research scholar affiliated to the History and Philosophy of Science Department, Cambridge University. His chief research ...

* 1989

D. Stanley Tarbell Dean Stanley Tarbell (October 19, 1913 – May 26, 1999) was an American chemist. Tarbell was notable for his research of detection methods of chemical warfare agents (including mustard gas) during World War II, his discovery of new types of org ...

* 1988 ( Lutz F. Haber) * 1987

Allen Debus Allen George Debus (August 16, 1926 – March 6, 2009) was an American historian of science, known primarily for his work on the history of chemistry and alchemy. In 1991 he was honored at the University of Chicago with an academic conference he ...

* 1986 Robert G. W. Anderson * 1985 Robert Multhauf * 1984 * 1983

Arnold Thackray Arnold Thackray (born 30 July 1939) is a science historian who is the founding president of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (now the Science History Institute), the Life Sciences Foundation, and Science History Consultants. He is an emeritus pro ...

* 1982 John H. Wotiz * 1981

Cyril Stanley Smith Cyril Stanley Smith (4 October 1903 – 25 August 1992) was a British metallurgist and historian of science. He is most famous for his work on the Manhattan Project where he was responsible for the production of fissionable metals. A graduate ...

* 1980 * 1979

Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, in ...

* 1978

George B. Kauffman George Bernard Kauffman (September 4, 1930 – May 2, 2020) was an American chemist. Life Kauffman was born in Philadelphia, the son of Laura (Fisher) and Joseph Philip Kauffman. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsy ...

* 1977 * 1976 * 1975 (Johannes Willem van Spronsen) * 1974 No Award * 1973 * 1972

Henry Guerlac Henry Edward Guerlac (June 14, 1910 – May 29, 1985) was an American historian of science. He taught at Cornell University where he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of History and a member of the Department of History. Biography Guerlac earned ...

* 1971 * 1970

Ferenc Szabadváry Ferenc Szabadváry (1 September 1923 – 21 May 2006) was a Hungarian chemist and historian. From 1971 he was director at the Hungarian National Museum for Science and Technology. In 1960 he published a history of analytical chemistry in Hunga ...

* 1969

Walter Pagel Walter Traugott Ulrich Pagel (12 November 1898 – 25 March 1983) was a German pathologist and medical historian. Pagel was born in Berlin, the son of the famous physician and historian of medicine Julius Leopold Pagel. He married Dr. Magda Koll ...

* 1968 * 1967

Mary Elvira Weeks Mary Elvira Weeks (April 10, 1892 – June 20, 1975) was an American chemist and historian of science. Weeks was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Kansas and the first woman to be a faculty member there. Her bo ...

* 1966 * 1965 * 1964

Eduard Farber Eduard Farber, also ''Eduard Färber'' or ''Eduard Faerber'', (17 April 1892, in Brody, Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia – 15 July 1969) was an Austrian-American industrial chemist and historian of chemistry. Biography Färber (spelling changed ...

* 1963

Douglas McKie Prof Douglas McKie FRSE FRIC FSA (1896–1967) was a British chemist and science historian. He was a member of the International Academy of the History of Science, the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and the Society of Apothecar ...

* 1962 * 1961 James R. Partington * 1960 * 1959 John Read * 1958

Eva Armstrong Eva Armstrong (December 22, 1877 in Key West, Florida - May 10, 1962) was an American secretary, librarian, curator, and historian of science. She was the original curator of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry a ...

* 1957 Williams Haynes * 1956 Ralph E. Oesper

References

{{reflist Chemistry awards History awards History of science awards Awards established in 1956 1956 establishments in the United States

Recipients

HIST Award (2013-present)

Sidney M. Edelstein Award (2002-2009)

Dexter Award (1956-2001)

See also

References