W. Albert Noyes Jr.
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William Albert Noyes Jr. (April 18, 1898 – November 25, 1980), commonly known as W. Albert Noyes Jr., was an American chemist known for his contributions to
photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400  nm), visible light (400–7 ...
. During
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 leader in U.S. defense research efforts. He chaired the chemistry department at the
University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...
, edited several important chemistry journals, and throughout his career was a prominent voice for international scientific cooperation. He was the son of the renowned chemist
William A. Noyes William Albert Noyes (November 6, 1857 – October 24, 1941) was an American analytical and organic chemist. He made pioneering determinations of atomic weights, chaired the Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champ ...
; they became the first father-son pair to win the
Priestley Medal The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen ...
, the highest honor given by 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 ...
.


Early life

William Albert Noyes Jr. was born on April 18, 1898, in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of American chemist William A. Noyes, who was then a professor at the
Rose Polytechnic Institute A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
. When his father was offered a position at the National Bureau of Standards, the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where Noyes often accompanied his father to his laboratory on the campus of
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
. There, the young Noyes met prominent scientists and was introduced to chemistry. In 1907, when his father was offered a faculty position at the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
, Noyes moved to
Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...
, where he was raised. Noyes enrolled at Grinnell College in 1914, but enlisted in the military in 1917, after the United States entered
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He went to France, where he served as an interpreter and radio operator. Grinnell College awarded him a bachelor's degree when his military enlistment ended in 1919. He then decided to enroll at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where he studied in the lab of
Henry Le Chatelier Henry Louis Le Chatelier (; 8 October 1850 – 17 September 1936) was a French chemist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He devised Le Chatelier's principle, used by chemists and chemical engineers to predict the effect a changing conditi ...
and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1920.


Career

Noyes began his scientific and academic career at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, where he was a teaching fellow under
Joel Henry Hildebrand Joel Henry Hildebrand (November 16, 1881 – April 30, 1983) was an American educator and a pioneer chemist. He was a major figure in physical chemistry research specializing in liquids and nonelectrolyte solutions. Education and professors ...
. In 1921, he joined the faculty of 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 he remained for seven years. In 1925, he participated in a conference of the Faraday Society in Oxford, which has been called "the most important photochemistry meeting ever held." There, he delivered a paper called "The Formation of Polar Compounds by Photochemical Reactions." In 1929, he joined the faculty of
Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
, where he continued to build a reputation as a leading expert in photochemistry. During this period, he collaborated with Philip Leighton of Stanford University to write an influential textbook, ''The Photochemistry of Gases'', which appeared in 1941. In 1938, Noyes accepted an offer to join the University of Rochester as chair of the chemistry department. By 1940, he became involved in efforts to help the United States prepare for its entry into World War II by meeting regularly with the National Defense Research Committee and various universities involved in defense research. After the United States entered the war, Noyes was named head of the Chemical Warfare and Smoke Division of the newly formed Office of Scientific Research and Development. Throughout the war, he continued to teach at Rochester while conducting defense research, which required frequent travel to England and elsewhere. He also served as an editor of ''
Chemical Reviews ''Chemical Reviews'' is peer-reviewed scientific journal published twice per month by the American Chemical Society. It publishes review articles on all aspects of chemistry. It was established in 1924 by William Albert Noyes (University of Illinoi ...
'', a journal his father founded. After the war ended, he returned to Rochester full time, where he was the Charles Frederick Houghton Professor of Chemistry and remained chair of the chemistry department. In 1947, he served a term as president 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 ...
. At the same time, he was instrumental in promoting international scientific cooperation, chiefly through his involvement in the formation of
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. He was appointed dean of graduate studies at Rochester in 1952 and then acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1956. He also served as the editor of the ''
Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytical ...
'' from 1950 to 1962 and the '' Journal of Physical Chemistry'' from 1952 to 1964. In 1963, Noyes joined the faculty of the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, where he continued to teach and conduct research until his retirement in 1973.


Family

Noyes's father was the American chemist William Noyes and his mother was Flora Collier Noyes. His two younger half-brothers were
Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
(1919 – 1997) and
Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
(1923 - 2016); both were chemists.


Honors

Noyes earned numerous honors throughout his career. These include: *
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
, Elected Member (1931) *
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, Elected Member (1943) *Honorary Doctorate, Grinnell College (1946) *
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, Elected Member (1947) *Honorary Doctorate, University of Rhode Island (1953) *
Priestley Medal The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen ...
(1954) *
Willard Gibbs Award The Willard Gibbs Award, presented by thChicago Sectionof the American Chemical Society, was established in 1910 by William A. Converse (1862–1940), a former Chairman and Secretary of the Chicago Section of the society and named for Professor Jo ...
(1956) *Honorary Doctorate, Indiana University (1958) *Honorary Doctorate, University of Illinois (1964) *Honorary Doctorate, University of Rochester (1965) * Charles Lathrop Parsons Award (1970) *
French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...
, Elected Member (1975) By winning the Priestley Medal, Noyes and his father became the first father-son pair to win that prestigious award. His father won it in 1935. In addition, the University of Rochester has a distinguished lecture series named in Noyes' honor.


References


External links


National Academy of Sciences, Memoirs, William Albert Noyes Jr., 1898–1980, A Biographical Memoir by John M. White and Pamela J. Cook, 1994
1898 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American chemists Members of the French Academy of Sciences {{US-chemist-stub