HERMANN MOHLER

JOURNAL O f CHEMICAL EDUCATION

HFRMANN MOHLER, who is now serving as the tem- porary head of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Bagdad, where he lectures in English on physical, industrial, and biochemistry, is in a sense returning the great service rendered to Europe by the Moors nho hrought Islamic science into Spain many centuries ago. Dr. Mohler, vho is distinguished by his humanitarian outlook, is working in Iraq under the auspices of UNESCO.'

Rorn on March 2, 1900, a t Liestal, Switzerland, he was graduated magna cum l a d e from the University of Basel where he took his doctorate (1925) with a major in physical chemistry and minors in botany and general chemistry. He early showed a strong interest in scientific prohlems and his two-year activity as assist- ant in the physical chemistry laboratory of his alma muter revealed that he had a great ability for teach- ing.

A year after the doctorate examination he was appointed provincial Food Inspector, and in 1930 he passed the federal examination for food chemist. Shortly thereafter, he went to Zurich as adjunct to the cantonal chemist, and two years later was named city chemist of Zurich. Here he had an opportunity to develop hi outstanding organizing abilities and also his scientific activities.

In January, 1937, he habilitated as Privatdozent at Basel, receiving the venia legedi in physical chemistry. The habilitation essay bore the title: "Diacetyl as butter aroma and its spectroscopy." The habilitation

MOHLER, H., "Die Wissenschaft in Auibauwerk der Uneseo," Chimia, 6, 153 (1952).

RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

lecture dealt with the problem of the relation of chem- istry to t.he new physics.

His lectures have always been well attended. They covered a wide variety of topics, e. g., chemical warfare; explosives; the relation of light absorption to chemical constitution; dipole moments; semage; potable wat,ers. More than 90 papers testify to the comprehensiveness of his chemical activity. In the field of pure chemistry, he has specialized on spectroscopy and electron theory. He is especially interested in the relations between physical properties and chemical constitution. In 1947 he was appointed extraordinary professor of physi- cal chemistry a t Basel.

He has acted as consultant to the military authorities on such matters as the analysis of toxic smoke screens, the detoxification of areas exposed to war gases such as Yperite, and protection against gas attacks in general.

He has the following books to his credit: "Losungs- spektren" (1937); "Besiehungen der Chemie sum Weltbild der Physik" (1939); "Das Ahsorptionspek- trum der chemischen Bindung" (1943), which vas out of print within eight months and was reprinted in the U. S. A. in 1946; "Optische Methoden des Chemikers" (1945); "Elektronentheorie der Chemie" (1946); "Chemische Optik" (1950).

The Werder Foundation awarded him its Werder Medal in 1944 in recognition of his outstanding achieve- ments in food chemistry and his method of analyzing spirituous liquors. Since 1946 he has served as presi- dent of the Schweizischer Chemiker-Verhand and since 1947 he has been head of the edit,orial board of Chimia, which he founded.