The Chemical Heritage

Foundation’s 25th Anniversary

Initiative TransmutationsN O . 2 n S P R I N G 2 0 0 7 Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future

Multimedia MatterMystery of MatterBuilds on Success of NOVA Episode

“Riveting” is how the New York Times described

“Forgotten Genius,” the PBS NOVA episode de-

tailing the life of Percy L. Julian, the pioneering

African American chemist. The two-hour film,

which aired early this year, deftly balanced

Julian’s chemical achievements, including the

synthesis of both a glaucoma drug and cortisone,

with his inspiring life story.

“Forgotten Genius” illustrates the power of

film and television. These media can explain

chemical concepts to a lay audience while also

exploring both the social context and the human

adventure of research—the painstaking proce-

dures, the alternate paths, the competition from

others, the struggle for funding, and the exhilara-

tion of discovery. This extraordinary project was

developed by Stephen Lyons while he was senior

editor for program development at the WGBH

Science Unit in Boston.

Lyons is now partnering with CHF on our

most ambitious educational effort to date:

The Mystery of Matter, a multimedia story of

Those who

experience

Mystery

of Matter

will never

think of the

chemical

sciences the

same way

again.

John Haas (right) discusses CHF projects with Stephen Lyons in the Othmer Library.Photo by Steven Begleiter.

c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 13

about the life of scientist Percy Julian. We have also made

impressive progress on The Mystery of Matter, an ambitious

multimedia project that includes a five-part television series

about the centuries-long quest to discover what the world

is made of.

Thanks to support from our friends around the globe,

we have made impressive progress toward realizing the

goals of the 25th Anniversary Initiative. At this writing we

have received gifts and commitments for 80 percent of our

overall goal of $75 million, through which we will

• Expand our exciting program initiatives;

• Construct new exhibit space and conference

facilities; and

• Strengthen our endowment to provide needed

stewardship of our collections.

As we work to complete our campaign, we look to your

continued support. Together we will treasure the past,

educate the present, and inspire the future.

A note from the president

As the central place for the central science, the Chemical

Heritage Foundation tells the stories of science and innova-

tion to new generations, establishes the records of current

progress, and contributes to scientific discourse and

policy. In the past year, CHF advanced its mission and

25th Anniversary Initiative in new and exciting ways.

CHF is extending its reach nationally and internationally.

Our affiliations abroad now include the Japanese Society for

the History of Science, the Maison de la Chimie in Paris, and

the Society of Chemical Industry in London. Here in the

United States, we are working with senior executives and

experienced individuals from the chemical industries and

related fields in California’s Bay Area, Houston, and New York

City to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

At our headquarters in Philadelphia, CHF hosted major

conferences and gatherings of influential individuals. The

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) centennial confer-

ence included the FDA’s commissioner, Andrew C. von

Eschenbach. In July the International Conference on

the History of Alchemy and Chymistry celebrated CHF’s

accession of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library.

Scholars came from sixteen countries, and the conference

was featured on the front page of the New York Times’

“Science Times” section. And, at the 17th annual Ullyot

Public Affairs Lecture in November, Ralph J. Cicerone,

president of the National Academy of Sciences, presented

his highly regarded research in atmospheric chemistry and

global climate change.

CHF has released new publications, including Under-

standing Moore’s Law: Four Decades of Innovation and

the two-volume Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library:

An Annotated Catalogue of Printed Books on Alchemy,

Chemistry, Chemical Technology, and Related Subjects. In

February 2007 public television stations nationwide aired the

NOVA episode “Forgotten Genius,” a CHF collaboration

32

From left to right, Randy Guschl, Arnold Thackray, Louise Pariser, and Rudolph Pariser during Heritage Day, May 2006. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard

In early 2005 the Chemical Heritage Foundation

established the Center for Contemporary History

and Policy to tackle these and other critical

issues at the forefront of science, business,

government, and public interests. Led by Arthur

Daemmrich (pictured at right), the center has

grown to eleven staff members, including four

Ph.D.-level program managers. By developing innovative

projects in each of its program areas, the center supports

meaningful independent scholarship on critical issues and

promotes greater public understanding of the chemical

and molecular sciences and industries, all within a historical

perspective supported by active use of CHF’s library and

collections.

The center has developed an impressive record of

success. For example, it has

• Established the now-annual SCI–CHF Innovation Day, which

brings together more than 180 rising stars of industrial

research to explore areas that offer significant potential to

commercialize new innovations and to encourage strategic

discussion of the chemical industry’s future;

• Organized a number of conferences and symposia on topics

ranging from perspectives on the emergence of nanotech-

nology to risk and safety in medical innovation;

• Published 10 articles in peer-reviewed scientific and social

science journals on topics ranging from Moore’s law to

pharmaceutical regulation; in addition, staff within the

center have independently published three books and

several white papers;

• Recorded, edited, and made available more

than 75 new oral histories of luminary scien-

tists, business leaders, and entrepreneurs; and

• Played a leading role in anniversary events for

several international organizations, including

the 75th anniversary of the Gordon Research

Conferences and the centennial of the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration.

The Center for ContemporaryHistory and Policy

How do new inventions get from the

laboratory to the market? Who are the

key players in the invention, testing, regu-

lation, and marketing of nanoproducts,

biodegradable plastics, biotech drugs,

and other exciting consumer products?

Why does it take so long and cost so

much to commercialize new inventions?

Are government regulatory agencies

ensuring safety, and at what point on a

cost-benefit spectrum?

Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

54

Electronic Materials: Understanding Chemistry’s Role in the Computer Revolution

Advances in electronics have transformed

every aspect of modern society, but few people

realize how much these advances depend on

chemistry. The center’s program on the

chemical history of electronics, directed

by Hyungsub Choi, explores the history of

semiconductors and related materials;

innovation and entrepreneurship in Silicon

Valley; and the lessons to be drawn for

research management and regulation

from the fundamentally chemical history

of electronics.

The center recently published Under-

standing Moore’s Law: Four Decades of

Innovation, based on a conference marking

the 40th anniversary of Intel founder

Gordon Moore’s observation of the rela-

tionship between the rate of increase in

chip complexity and the decrease in cost

over time. The center is also building a

research archive of materials on Moore’s

life, career, and innovation network.

Nanotechnology: Social Response to Innovation

Nanotechnology is much in the news as a field

of great promise, but few people understand

what this remarkably interdisciplinary subject

encompasses. It seems very new, but in fact researchers in

a number of fields—chemistry, physics, biology, materials

science, electrical engineering and medical sciences—have

been working at the nanoscale (one-billionth of a meter—

a level at which materials behave differently than they do in

bulk) for decades.

As far back as 1959, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman

called for physicists to develop ways to visualize and manipu-

late the atomic constituents of matter in order to help biologists

understand life and to help chemists analyze molecules.

The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in

1981 helped make that visualization and manipulation possible

and earned the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for its inventors.

Cyrus Mody, the center’s program manager for nanotech-

nology studies, has written extensively on the history of the

STM, and he spoke on the subject during the James L. Waters

Symposium at the 2007 Pittcon meeting. “The

STM deserves recognition as one of the central

instruments of nanotechnology,” Mody says. “But

its history is also emblematic of changes in the

1980s and 1990s for how knowledge is commer-

cialized and how scientific disciplines cooperate.”

Oral History: Firsthand Perspectives onScientific and Business Change

By building a comprehensive and

informative collection over time,

CHF’s Oral History Program will

preserve a unique set of perspectives and enable

current and future scholarship on science since

1930. Managed by Rasheedah Cremer, the pro-

gram collects and preserves the knowledge and

experiences of key scientists, entrepreneurs, and

technologists in the molecular sciences and industries.

Currently CHF’s Oral History collection includes more

than 350 completed interviews. In addition to recording the

life stories of key individuals, the collection has focused on

historical events and field shifts; for example, the chemical

history of electronics, including Gordon Moore and his inno-

vation network; the history of Arnold Beckman and Beckman

Instruments; the history of the information sciences; and

the development and evolution of the Gordon Research

Conferences.

Each month a different oral history is featured in the

Othmer Library and on CHF’s Web site. Copies of these selec-

tions are available by request from the Othmer Library

and the Oral History Program. To read this month’s featured

oral history on CHF’s Web site, log on to http://www.chem-

heitage.org/exhibits/ex-nav2.html and click on “Featured

Oral History.”

Building on these initia-

tives, the center has ambitious

plans for 2007. First, it will

establish a new program area

focused on environmental

policy. Second, it will conduct

oral histories of leading

scientists and entrepreneurs,

including a significant group-

ing of oral histories of bio-

medical scientists conducted

under the auspices of The Pew

Charitable Trusts’ Scholars

Program in the Biomedical

Sciences. Third, the center will

host four conferences: the

annual Innovation Day and

conferences on the cluster

phenomenon in biotechnol-

ogy, on new methods for

recording and using oral

history, and on social studies

of nanotechnology.

Exciting longer-range pro-

jects are under way, including

planning for the first T. T. Chao

Conference in Houston (2008)

and the Robert W. Gore

Innovation Case Studies

Program, which will develop

in-depth analyses of materials

invented and brought to mar-

ket by industry since 1980.

PPrrooggrraamm AArreeaass ooff tthhee CCeenntteerr ffoorrCCoonntteemmppoorraarryy HHiissttoorryy aanndd PPoolliiccyy

Biotechnology History and Policy: A Focus on Clusters

The center’s biotechnology program explores

the scientific and industrial dimensions of this

rapidly expanding field, with a broad compara-

tive and geographic focus. Since 1980, when the first

biotechnology firms went public, the industry’s growth has

occurred in clusters. Regional concentrations of innovation

and entrepreneurship have flourished within local networks

of interconnected universities, service and supply industries,

innovative companies, and government support.

“The success of these centers of biotech activity has

spurred many states to plan economic development based

on biotechnology, yet the historical conditions of that

success have not been fully examined,” explains Ted

Everson, the center’s biotechnology program manager. The

biotechnology program is thus recording and telling the

broad story of biotechnology’s development through the lens

of regional dynamics.

Advances in

electronics have

transformed

every aspect of

modern society,

but few people

realize how

much these

advances

depend on

chemistry.

The center

supports

meaningful

independent

scholarship

and promotes

greater public

understanding of

the chemical

and molecular

sciences and

industries.

Participants at the FDA centennial conference, May 2006.Photo by Paul Pierlott.

6

Roy Eddleman.Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

7

collection of chemical art, assembled by Chester Fisher

from the 1930s through the 1950s, was donated by Fisher

Scientific International through the efforts of Chester

Fisher’s son, James. Inspired by Chester Fisher’s example,

Roy Eddleman built a major collection of his own, and, with

his company, Spectrum Labs, donated a remarkable collection

of alchemical art to CHF. Meanwhile John Haas and Eugene

Garfield made possible the purchase of the handsome

portrait of Robert Boyle that graces our lobby, while an

anonymous donor contributed the funding needed to

acquire the N. C. Wyeth depiction of an alchemist and

his assistant that was commissioned by the Hercules

Chemical Corporation for its annual calendar.

Because collections are like bushes that need to be

shaped and regularly pruned, the acquisition of new materials

is governed by a well-thought-out collections policy. Even as

we explore new areas for possible expansion, we seek to

build on our strengths in existing areas, such as polymer

chemistry, chemical education, and our ongoing initiative to

acquire papers of Nobel Prize winners in chemistry.

Recognizing that we cannot collect everything, or even

everything that is offered to us, we try to consider each

item’s research value, historical significance, and overall fit.

When we accept an item, we take responsibility for it.

We establish intellectual control via cataloguing, box lists,

finding aids, and registers, and increasingly this information

is made available online. To secure our collections, CHF

follows industry standards, with limited access, secure

storage, careful registration, and monitoring systems.

To preserve our collections, we maintain proper climatic

conditions and address the conservation of individual items

according to priorities set in collection surveys. Conservation

usually does improve the appearance of an item, but it is

undertaken less for cosmetic reasons than to stabilize and

The Chemical Heritage Foundation’s collections lie at the

heart of its mission, fueling exhibitions, conferences, media

presentations, and the research of visiting scholars and staff

alike. The items that make up CHF’s collections are

elements of our common past, and each one—be it a book,

a painting, a laboratory notebook, or a Beckman Model DU

Spectrophotometer—is precious.

“The material history of the chemical sciences is critical

to the overall story,” says Robert D. Hicks, director of CHF’s

Roy Eddleman Institute for Education and Interpretation. “A

pH meter, glass apparatus, or a photograph of a research lab

are documentary sources in their own right and as critical to

understanding chemical achievements as any written text.”

CHF’s collections have been built from a variety of

sources over a period of 25 years. The Othmer Library began

with 30,000 volumes donated from the renowned Chemists’

Club Library collection. The ACS Book Share program allowed

us to grow that core into a collection of 137,000 volumes

drawn mainly from university, college, and industrial

libraries; additional donations from Sunoco and Atofina

augmented this material. And the generosity of Gordon and

Betty Moore enabled us to acquire the Roy G. Neville

Historical Chemical Library with its wealth of alchemical texts.

CHF’s archival collections are based on donations. From

our first significant acquisitions (the papers of Nobel laureate

Paul J. Flory, donated by his wife, Emily, and the papers of

synthesis expert Carl S. Marvel, donated by his son, John, and

his daughter, Mollie) to our most recent ones (the papers of

Nobel laureates Alan G. MacDiarmid and Richard Smalley,

donated by the authors themselves), the archives have

received a steady stream of significant original materials.

Begun with a few small pieces loaned to us by Beckman

Coulter, CHF’s instrument collection has grown to more

than 2,000 pieces, largely through our acquisition of the

holdings of the Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer Collection.

Individual instruments of great importance have been

given by Paul Wilks, Thomas Porro, James Bohning,

Charles Judson, John Baldeschweiler, Richard Smalley, and

Alan G. MacDiarmid. Again, generosity is not limited to

individuals alone. The Varian Corporation, Capital University,

Swarthmore College, and Montclair State University have all

made donations and enriched our instrumentation.

CHF’s holdings include the arts as well as science.

A magnificent portrait collection, including a group of photo-

graphs assembled by author and publisher Williams Haynes,

provided a foundation for our fine art holdings. A superb

The items that

comprise CHF’s

collections are

elements of our

common past,

and each one

is precious.

Right: The title page from a German translation of Oswald Croll’s Basilica chymica (Frankfurt: Bey Gottfried Tampachen, 1635?), Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.Above right: First image of a buckyball sketched in Richard Smalley’s notebook, ca. 1985.Richard E. Smalley Collection.

CHF Collections

98

protect the item from deterioration or to

prepare it for travel and exhibition.

Donors aware of the importance of

these measures donate specifically to our

conservation efforts. The Fisher family

granted CHF $95,000 to conserve a group

of paintings that will be part of the major

traveling exhibition Fortune and Folly:

Images of Alchemy in Northern European

Art, 1500s to 1700s. In addition funding

agencies like the National Endowment for

the Humanities regularly award grants for

conservation and preservation surveys.

Every day outside scholars join our

staff and fellows in exploring the riches of

our collections. CHF offers a unique van-

tage point for discovery and interpretation:

“We are the only institution in the world

with an active collecting and exhibiting

strategy for these materials,” says Hicks.

And beyond enabling research, CHF creates and supports major

programs and events, which rely on its collections:

� CHF has created nearly a dozen fascinating exhibitions

on topics including the chemistry of electricity, Joseph

Priestley’s chemical and philosophical work, and the

contributions of women to chemical advances. In the works

is a collaborative show with Skidmore College on selected

molecules’ impact on each decade of the twentieth century.

� The CHF staff is building a permanent exhibition on the

“greatest human adventure ever.” Slated to open in 2008,

the exhibit will feature people who contributed to chemical

discovery, tools and processes that have advanced the

field, and the impact of these discoveries and innovations

on global society.

� Scholars use the Neville collection and art from the Fisher

and Eddleman collections to do research on the history of

alchemy, an area now understood to have played an impor-

tant role in the evolution of modern chemistry. This work has

produced numerous papers, an international conference

(held at CHF in 2006), and an alchemical art exhibition

to be shown in Houston, Palo Alto, and Philadelphia in

2009–2010.

� Bill Nye, “The Science Guy,” used CHF’s collections

in the chemistry segment of his Science Channel

series 100 Greatest Discoveries. In addition film-

maker Stephen Lyons came to CHF for materials

on twentieth-century African American chemist

and entrepreneur Percy Lavon Julian for a NOVA

documentary. Lyons is now using CHF’s collections

for a PBS series called The Mystery of Matter

(see related story, p.1).

� Scholars associated with CHF’s Center for

Contemporary History and Policy and others use

the oral histories and personal papers we collect

from living scientists and entrepreneurs to

understand patterns of discovery and innovation in

the chemical and molecular sciences. This analysis

has important implications for corporate research,

regional economic development, and global

competitiveness.

Until CHF obtained its own home at Independence

National Historical Park, we did not have the space to collect

actively and could not make our collections available for

research and enjoyment. Over the last decade we have

followed a facilities master plan to create the storage, study,

and exhibit areas that these wonderful collections deserve.

We are grateful to all who have helped propel CHF and our

collections to the point where we can effectively treasure

the past, educate the present, and inspire the future.

We are the only

institution in

the world with

an active

collecting and

exhibiting

strategy

for these

materials.

Every day

outside

scholars join

our staff

and fellows in

exploring the

riches of our

collections.

Left to right: “Pocket-sized” scanning tunneling microscope, CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, 1988–1990, gift of Dr. John D. Baldeschwieler. Photo by Gregory Tobias. The Medical Alchemist by Franz Christoph Janneck(Graz 1703–1761 Vienna), oil on copper, Fisher Collection. Photo by Will Brown.

Portrait of Leo Baekeland, inventor of bakelite, ca. 1900, William HaynesPortrait Collection. A handblown Depression-era carboy used to transportone of the first shipments of the acrylic polymer Plexigum. Photo by Gregory

Tobias. Frontispiece from Joseph Priestley’s Experiments and Observationson Different Kinds of Air (London: printed for J. Johnson, 1774), Roy G.Neville Historical Chemical Library. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

10

For more than 60 years, Roy G. Neville followed his passion

for rare and early books, building an extraordinary library

that will inform our understanding of chemical enterprise for

decades to come. “He did it out of love for the subject and for

books,” Ronald Brashear, director of CHF’s Othmer Library,

says of Neville. “But at some point it

evolved into a really serious collection that

had major research potential. The term

chemistry doesn’t do it justice,” Brashear

adds. “Chemical matters is better.”

The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical

Library, housed since 2004 at the Othmer

Library, includes works by Robert Boyle,

Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, Antoine

Lavoisier, John Dalton, and Dmitri

Mendeleev. Manuscripts, dissertations,

and pamphlets complement the books.

Some 400 titles are unique to the collection,

which documents nearly five centuries of

chemical thought.

Born in Bournemouth, England, in 1926,

Roy Neville was inspired to collect books

as a youth after reading Percy H. Muir’s

Book-Collecting as a Hobby: In a Series of

Letters to Everyman (London, 1945). A local

bookshop owner encouraged Neville’s interest and sold him

several early volumes, including a chemistry book printed in

1649. “I put those books in my saddle bag,” Neville says,

“and cycled back home and gladly showed my father, who

said, ‘Hmm. He certainly saw you coming.’”

Despite a modest background and limited resources,

Neville was focused and determined. He slowly built an

impressive collection. In 1951, after receiving a B.Sc. from the

University of London, Neville came to the United States on a

Fulbright scholarship. He went on to earn M.S. and Ph.D.

degrees in chemistry from the University of Oregon. He also

won a university-sponsored contest for the best graduate

student private library—a success that fueled his lifetime

commitment to assembling a remarkable and unique

collection of books.

AboutRoy Neville

11

Neville spent his early career in the

aerospace industry. The author of some 40

papers and patents, most related to heat- or

corrosion-resistant polymers, he also founded

and served as president of Engineering and

Technical Consultants in Redwood City,

California. The company specialized in methods

of pollution control, especially the treatment

of wastewater that contained cyanides.

Though he faced the demands of career

and family as well as the challenge of rising

prices for antiquarian volumes, Neville con-

tinued to collect books, with the full support

of his wife, Jeanne. Each work was selected

for the role it and its author played in the

unfolding chemical drama. Neville was a

loving steward of these treasures, taking

great care with them and making meticulous

bibliographic records and summaries that

place the works in context. He also used his

books for scholarship, finding the time to

write a number of significant papers on the

works of Boyle, Dalton, Priestley, and

Macquer, and thereby combining his love of

history with his scientific knowledge. (Most of the journals in

which Neville published these papers are available in the

Othmer Library.)

At one point, around 1968, Neville contemplated

selling his collection, but ultimately, he realized, “No, I’m not

through with collecting books yet, and I’m going to regret

this, so right now I’d better just not do it.” Almost 40 years

later, the acquisition of Neville’s magnificent 6,000-volume

collection, made possible through the generosity of Gordon

and Betty Moore, was a true milestone in the expansion of

CHF’s library.

Even as it was being catalogued for public use, the

Neville collection excited scholars all over the world, and

they began to use it to chart new paths in understanding the

history of chemistry. “It’s important for scholars to be in a

place with such a large critical mass of works because they

encounter things they may not have been aware of and make

links they wouldn’t have made if all these works weren’t

together,” Brashear says. “It’s one thing to read about this

collection, but it’s another to actually discover it.”

Brigitte Van Tiggelen, research assistant at the Centre de

Recherche en Histoire des Sciences of the Université

Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium, agrees.

“My first acquaintance with the Neville collection was about

Roy G. Neville at home with his library, 2004.

Phot

o by

And

rea

Tom

linso

n.

Some

400 titles are

unique to the

collection,

which

documents

nearly five

centuries of

chemical

thought.

The more

people come

to meet

these books,

the more they

will find.

Photos by Douglas A. Lockard.

13

Mystery of Matter

c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1

� A mass-market companion book aimed at the general

public as well as high school and college students.

� An extensive Web site on the human story of chemical

enterprise with interactive features to attract and engage

young people.

� A special teachers’ edition DVD designed to complement

the TV series by reinforcing core scientific concepts and

the excitement of discovery.

� A community outreach program to distribute educational

materials to underserved audiences through science

centers and libraries.

This exciting project demonstrates the wholesale

approach to education mandated in CHF’s strategic plan.

“By leveraging the power of media and producing resources

for teachers, CHF can share this great human endeavor

with millions,” explains CHF’s president, Arnold Thackray.

“Everyone connected with CHF has helped us achieve this

kind of impact as we celebrate our 25th anniversary.”

Initial funding for The Mystery of Matter has come from

the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and the Otto Haas

Charitable Trust, as well as from generous annual donors to

CHF. Additional funding for this multiyear project is being

sought through applications to the National Science

Foundation and other sources.

the centuries of enterprise that led to

understanding the nature and elegant

interrelationships of atoms, elements, and

the periodic table. The Mystery of Matter

will illuminate the succession of alchemists,

natural philosophers, and chemists who

unraveled these mysteries by exploring

the contributions of Priestley, Lavoisier,

Dalton, Avogadro, Bunsen, Mendeleev,

Curie, Rutherford, and the like. “Those

who experience the project will never

think of chemistry the same way again,”

Lyons says. Lyons gathered materials for

The Mystery of Matter at CHF through the

support of a Haas Fellowship.

The Mystery of Matter encompasses

� A prime-time six-hour PBS series, shot in

high definition, with an engaging narrator

and actors re-creating landmark discover-

ies with working replicas of the original

laboratory equipment. Oregon Public TV,

one of the most prolific sources of PBS

programming, is our partner station.

By leveraging

the power of

media and

producing

resources for

teachers,

CHF can

share this

great human

endeavor with

millions.

The Mystery of Matteradvisory board in June 2006. Front row, from left to right: MaryEllen Bowden, BernadetteBensaude-Vincent, David Condon,and Larry Principe. Back row, from left to right: John Theibault, Mark Michalovic,Stephen Lyons, Marco Beretta, Ned Heindel, Robert Anderson, and Robert Hicks. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

It’s one thing

to read about

this collection,

but it’s another

to actually

discover it.

12

meeting one book,” Van Tiggelen says. “But

one meeting leads to another and becomes

a conversation. This is the strength of the

Neville collection.”

“The more people come to meet these

books, the more they will find,” she adds.

The annotated catalogue of the Neville

Library, published this fall, further reveals the

collection’s spectacular holdings. Selected

images from the books have been digitized for

inclusion in the Othmer Library online catalog.

This past fall marked the inauguration of

the Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography,

awarded for an outstanding monograph in the

chemical or molecular sciences. The first

recipient, Robert E. Schofield, was recognized

for the second volume of his definitive biography

of Joseph Priestley, The Enlightened Joseph

Priestley; A Study of His Life and Work from

1773 to 1804. CHF has also established the Roy

G. Neville Fellowship, which supports scholars

in a variety of fields—including historians of

science, technology, and allied fields; historians

of the book and print culture; bibliographers;

and librarians—who will make use of the

Neville collection.

As Roy Neville celebrates his 80th birthday,

he has the satisfaction of seeing the wonder-

ful Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library,

the happy result of his singular vision and

efforts, safely held at CHF and known to

researchers around the world. For CHF, the

Neville Library is not only a jewel in itself,

it is also at the center of our plan to be the

library of record for the great story of chem-

ical achievement. On behalf of generations

of scholars to come, we salute and celebrate

the vision and passion of Roy Neville.

Photos by Douglas A. Lockard.

1514

Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future&25th Anniversary Initiative

Tom Kennedy, Barbara Wilson, and Phil Ashkettle at the Quail West Club,Naples, Florida. Photo by CHF Staff.

Progressevents

Bill Stavropoulos accepts CHF’s Distinguished Service Award.Photo by CHF Staff.

CHF continues to make great progress in our efforts to raise

$75 million to support the development of new programs, the

building of new exhibit galleries and conference space, and the

growth of our endowment.

We are continuing to host events and award ceremonies

around the country, bringing together friends and

colleagues to honor achievements, to

discuss our many programs and activities,

and to provide a forum for our supporters to ask

questions and learn more about the foundation.

Over the past 12 months, we have hosted events in

Palo Alto, Pasadena, New York, Chicago, Naples, and

Boston. We are planning additional events for San

Diego, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, Palo Alto, Phoenix,

and New York in the coming months. If you are interested in help-

ing CHF host an event in your area, please contact Nancy Vonada,

events manager, at 215.873.8226 or nvonada@ chemheritage.org.

26.2

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19.5

25 25

14.9

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5

10

15

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25

Fund

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Endowment Capital Programs

Funding Use

GoalRaised

M O V I N G T O W A R D O U R G O A L

2007 Petrochemical Heritage Award winner Dan Duncan and his wife, Jan, in San Antonio, Texas. Photo by Sam’s Studio.

Arnold Thackray with 2007 Pittcon Heritage Awardee David Schwartzand Pittcon President Beth Kirol. Photo by Alya Hameedi.

Joshua Barer; Sol Barer, winner of the 2006 Chemists’ Club’s Winthrop-Sears Medal;and Meryl Barer at the 2006 Heritage Day celebration. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

Wise StewardsCHF’s investment performance on our endowment consist-

ently outpaces that of other endowment funds, according to

annual surveys by the National Association of College and

University Business Officers (NACUBO).

Year NACUBO CHF Difference

FY2006 10.7% 14.0% +3.3%

FY2005 9.3% 12.7% +3.4%

Currently at $153 million, our endowment continues to

grow at a healthy rate, thanks to the wise guidance of our

Investment Committee:

Lewis E. Gasorek (Chair)

President, Listowel Incorporated

Norbert DittrichPresident, The Robert A. Welch Foundation

Rajiv L. GuptaChairman and CEO, Rohm and Haas Company

Miriam SchaeferCFO, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Sheldon ThompsonRetired Executive, Sunoco

Ross M. Wilson IIIAssistant Treasurer, American Chemical Society

Chemical Heritage Foundation315 Chestnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106

Treasure t h e p a s tEducate t h e p r e s e n t

Inspire t h e f u t u r e

N O N P R O F I TO R G A N I Z AT I O NU . S . P O S TA G E

P A I DP H I L A D E L P H I A , PAP E R M I T N O . 5 4 6 0

Transmutations INTHISISSUE

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Mystery of MatterBuilds on Success of NOVAEpisode

The Center for Contemporary History and Policy

CHF Collections

Progress & Events