Gustavus John Esselen (1888–1952) was an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

born in

Roxbury, Boston Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

, Massachusetts. He studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

where he was awarded the

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

) in chemistry in 1909 and a doctorate in 1912. Until 1921 he was a member of the research staff of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

and then of

Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. ...

. There with

Little Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and Wallace Murray he contrived to make a 'silk' purse from reconstituted collagen extracted from a sow's ear. In 1930 he founded Gustavus J. Esselen, Inc., which following a merger, became Esselen Research Division of United States Testing Co., Inc. Among the successful projects for industrial clients he was involved with was the development of anhydride curing agents for

epoxy resins Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

and

polyvinyl butyral Polyvinyl butyral (or PVB) is a resin mostly used for applications that require strong binding, optical clarity, adhesion to many surfaces, toughness and flexibility. It is prepared from polyvinyl alcohol by reaction with butyraldehyde. The majo ...

as an improved material for the subsequent commercialization of laminated glass for use in vehicles etc. More than 40 U.S. patents were issued as a result of his research efforts. He was a member 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 ...

for 43 years, twice chairman of the Northeastern Section (1922–23) and served as councilor and director of the national organization. From 1919 to 1951 he was chairman of the American Section of the

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

. Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was a reserve officer in the U.S. Army's

Chemical Warfare Service The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. The Chemical Warfare Service was established on 28 June 1918, combining activities that until ...

. During the war he was a committee chairman with the Office of Scientific Research and Development.

Esselen Award

In 1987, the Esselen Award was established in his honor. The Esselen Award for Chemistry in the public interest is one of the most prestigious honors provided by the Northeastern Section of the ACS. The award of $5,000 annually recognizes

a chemist whose scientific and technical work has contributed to the public well-being, and has thereby communicated positive values of the chemical profession.

Notable recipients include

F. Sherwood Rowland Frank Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland (June 28, 1927 – March 10, 2012) was an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research was on atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His be ...

, Mario Molina, Bruce Ames, Kyriacos C. Nicolaou,

Robert S. Langer Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng (born August 29, 1948) is an American chemical engineer, scientist, entrepreneur, inventor and one of the twelve Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was formerly the Germeshaus ...

Joseph M. DeSimone Joseph M. DeSimone (born May 16, 1964) is an American chemist, inventor, and entrepreneur who has co-founded companies based on his research, including the American 3D printing technology company, Carbon, of which he was CEO from 2014 until Nov ...

Jean Fréchet Jean M.J. Fréchet (born August 1944) is a French-American chemist and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for his work on polymers including polymer-supported chemistry, chemically amplified photores ...

Ronald Breslow Ronald Charles David Breslow (March 14, 1931 – October 25, 2017) was an American chemist from Rahway, New Jersey. He was University Professor at Columbia University, where he was based in the Department of Chemistry and affiliated with the De ...

and

Bruce Roth Bruce D. Roth is an American organic and medicinal chemist who trained at Iowa State University and the University of Rochester, and, at the age of 32, discovered atorvastatin, the statin-class drug sold as Lipitor that would become the largest-sel ...

. The 2011 winner was Arthur J. Nozik.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esselen, Gustavus 1888 births 1952 deaths 20th-century American chemists Harvard College alumni People from Boston Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni