Sara Jane Rhoads (June 1, 1920,

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

-May 1, 1993,

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern ...

) was an American chemist. She was one of the first women in the United States to become a full professor of chemistry, helped to establish the chemistry department at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

, and was the recipient 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 ...

Garvan–Olin Medal The Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal is an annual award that recognizes distinguished scientific accomplishment, leadership and service to chemistry by women chemists. The Award is offered by the American Chemical Society (ACS), and consist ...

in 1982.

Life

Sara Jane Rhoads was born on June 1, 1920 in

, to Errett Stanley Rhoads and Charlotte Rhoads, née Kraft. She was the youngest of six siblings. Rhoads attended public school in Kansas City. She went to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where she received her bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1941. Rhoads worked in the development department of the Lindsay Light and Chemical Company in Chicago between 1941 and 1943. She then taught at the Radford School for Girls in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

(1943-1944) and at

Hollins College Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

(1944-1945). Rhoads attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as a PhD student, receiving her PhD in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

under

William von Eggers Doering William von Eggers Doering (June 22, 1917 – January 3, 2011) was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. Before Harvard, he taught at Columbia University, Columbia (1942–1952) and Yale (1952–1968). Doering was born ...

in 1949. In September 1948 Sara Jane Rhoads moved to the

, where she worked until her retirement in 1984. In more than 35 years at the university, she devoted herself to teaching and to establishing the chemistry department. Between 1956 and 1957 she carried out postdoctoral research in Zurich, Switzerland, working with

Vladimir Prelog Vladimir Prelog (23 July 1906 – 7 January 1998) was a Croatian-Swiss organic chemist who received the 1975 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research into the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions. Prelog was born and grew up in ...

, who would receive a Nobel Prize in 1975. In 1958, she was one of the first women to become a full professor of chemistry in the United States. She initiated the University of Wyoming's undergraduate research program, and served as the department's director from 1967-1968. "Sara Jane Rhoads papers, 1938-1994" in In 1959, Rhoads was the first person at the University of Wyoming to receive a grant from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

. She and

Darleane Hoffman Darleane Christian Hoffman (born November 8, 1926) is an American nuclear chemist who was among the researchers who confirmed the existence of Seaborgium, element 106. She is a faculty senior scientist in the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrenc ...

were the only two women, along with 161 men, who received a Senior Post Doctoral Fellowship from the National Science Foundation between 1956 and 1971. As of 1971 N. Rebecca Raulins was the only other woman chemist on the University of Wyoming faculty: nonetheless the university actually ranked higher than most American universities of the time in hiring women faculty. Rhoads received the national

Manufacturing Chemists' Association American Chemistry Council (ACC), formerly known as the Manufacturing Chemists' Association (at its founding in 1872) and then as the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (from 1978 until 2000), is an industry trade association for American chemic ...

Award for Outstanding College Teaching in 1964, and the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award in 1974. She received the

in 1982. The university established the annual Sara Jane Rhoads & Rebecca Raulins Lecture in Organic Chemistry in 1992. Rhoads' nephew

Richard E. Smalley Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005) was an American chemist who was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy at Rice University. In 1996, along with Robert Curl, also a professor of c ...

admired her and was inspired by her to pursue a career as a chemist. He worked in her laboratories in the 1960s. Smalley became a pioneer in the field of

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

and received the 1996

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

with Robert F. Curl and

Harold Kroto Sir Harold Walter Kroto (born Harold Walter Krotoschiner; 7 October 1939 – 30 April 2016), known as Harry Kroto, was an English chemist. He shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for their discovery o ...

for the discovery of

fullerenes A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon whose molecule consists of carbon atoms connected by single and double bonds so as to form a closed or partially closed mesh, with fused rings of five to seven atoms. The molecule may be a hollow sphere, ...

Awards

* 1947–1948,

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

(AAUW) Fellowship * 1956, NSF Senior Post Doctoral Fellowship,

* 1964, Award for Outstanding College Teaching,

* 1974, George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award * 1982,

External links

* * "Sara Jane Rhoads papers, 1938-1994" in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhoads, Sara Jane 1920 births 1993 deaths Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal American women chemists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American chemists University of Chicago alumni Columbia University alumni University of Wyoming faculty