- George Parshall
George W. Parshall (born
September 19 ,1929 ) is a distinguished member of theorganometallic chemistry andhomogeneous catalysis communities and has played a key role in advising theU.S. Army in its ongoing effort to safely destroy chemical weapons.Born in
Hackensack, Minnesota , Parshall received aBachelor of Science degree with highest distinction from theUniversity of Minnesota in 1951. He received his Ph.D. inOrganic Chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1954 under the direction ofReynold C. Fuson . In 1954, he joinedCentral Research Department of E. I.du Pont de Nemours and Company at the Experimental Station, where he rose to Director of Chemical Sciences. He took two industrial sabbaticals, one atImperial College London in 1960-61 and another atUniversity of Oxford in 1986. He was a visiting Ipatieff Lecturer atNorthwestern University of the fall of 1994. Parshall is a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences , theNew York Academy of Sciences , the National Academy of Sciences,Phi Beta Kappa ,Phi Lambda Upsilon andSigma Xi . He married Naomi B. Simpson on October 9, 1954.Parshall is best known for the direction he provided in the development of
organometallic chemistry andhomogeneous catalysis . He directed the work of 50 to 100 DuPont scientists, including that ofRichard Schrock who received the 2005Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to themetathesis method inorganic chemistry . He was most closely associated with the DuPont processes for making critical polymer intermediates used in producingnylon andpolyester andspandex . Parshall coauthored the definitive textbook on “Homogeneous Catalysis” withSteven Ittel . Parshall also directed the creation of alternatives to thechlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used inrefrigerators andair conditioners that were shown to contribute to the destruction of the atmosphere’sozone layer that protects us from damagingsolar radiation .When Parshall retired from DuPont in 1992, he joined the effort to destroy
chemical weapon stockpiles in the United States and across the world. As a member of the National Research Council’s “Stockpile Committee,” he has played a key role in advising the U.S. Army in its ongoing effort to safely destroy chemical weapons. TheChemical Weapons Convention called for the destruction of these chemicals, which generally fell into three types. There wasmustard gas , the devastating chemical that left many blinded and scarred inWorld War I . The stockpile also contained two types of nerve toxins—VX andSarin , which send the nervous system into overload, shutting down the respiratory system. Parshall has been an advisor on “neutralization” processes used to destroy these chemical weapons, which involve more chemistry than does the alternative, incineration.Parshall is a member of the
Guild of Scholars of The Episcopal Church .External links
* [http://www.las.uiuc.edu/alumni/news/fall2005/05fall_Parshall.html George W. Parshall, Catalyst of Change]
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