Henry L. Hsieh was a

Phillips Petroleum Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...

scientist known for contributions to polymerization chemistry, specifically

anionic polymerization In polymer chemistry, anionic addition polymerization is a form of chain-growth polymerization or addition polymerization that involves the polymerization of monomers initiated with anions. The type of reaction has many manifestations, but tradi ...

Education

Hsieh was a native of Shanghai, China. He received his BS Chemistry at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

in 1954. He then went to

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

, where he earned a MA in Chemistry in 1956, and a PhD in 1957 in Organic / Polymer chemistry.

Career

After completing his doctoral work, he joined Phillips in 1957 as a research chemist in their rubber synthesis branch. He became an authority on polymerization chemistry, holding 135 patents and publishing more than 50 scientific articles. He was responsible for the development of Solprene synthetic rubbers, K-Resin plastic, Butarez CTL solid rocket fuel binder and Phil-ad VIII multi-grade motor oil additive. In 1974, future Goodyear Medal winner

Roderic Quirk Roderic Quirk is an Emeritus University of Akron professor noted for contributions to anionic polymerization technology that is used to produce butadiene, isoprene and styrene homo and block copolymers. Education * 1963 – BS Chemistry, Renss ...

worked in Hsieh's anionic polymerization lab. Hsieh's most cited journal article is a review on the kinetics of

alkyllithium In organometallic chemistry, organolithium reagents are chemical compounds that contain carbon–lithium (C–Li) bonds. These reagents are important in organic synthesis, and are frequently used to transfer the organic group or the lithium atom ...

initiated polymerization.

Awards

* 1980 - Hsieh received a $12500 cash award under a Phillips Petroleum patent recognition program. Upon receiving the award Hsieh was quoted as saying "a discovery is really a series of accidents" and that "it just takes someone with a prepared mind to accept and catch that accident". * 1991 - Inventor of the Year Award from the Oklahoma Bar Association's patent, trademark and copyright section * 1998 -

Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award The Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award is a professional award conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1983, the award is named after Melvin Mooney, developer of the Mooney viscometer and of the Moone ...

from Rubber Division of the ACS

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsieh, Henry L. Polymer scientists and engineers Scientists from Shanghai University of Akron alumni Princeton University alumni