Louis Plack Hammett

Louis Plack Hammett (April 7, 1894 - February 9, 1987) was an American physical chemist. He is perhaps best known for the Hammett equation, which relates reaction rates to equilibrium constants for certain classes of organic reactions involving substituted aromatic compounds. He is also known for his research into superacids and his development of a scheme for comparing their acidities based on what is now known as the Hammett acidity function.

Awards included the Priestley Medal in 1961.

Hammett grew up in Portland, Maine, and studied in Harvard and Switzerland. He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University. He authored an influential textbook on Physical organic chemistry, [Hammett, Louis P. (1940) "Physical Organic Chemistry" New York: McGraw Hill.] and is credited with coining the term.

References

Further reading

*Hammond, George S. (1997) " [http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1997/pdf/6909x1919.pdf Physical organic chemistry after 50 years: It has changed, but is it still there?] " IUPAC V9. 69, No. 9, pp. 1919-1922.
*Westheimer, F. H. (1997) " [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/lhammett.html Biographical Memoirs] " V72, pp.136-149.
*Young, Robin V., Sessine, Suzanne (1999) " [http://www.bookrags.com/biography/louis-hammett-woc/ World of Chemistry] " Thomson Gale.