Edgar Fahs Smith

Edgar Fahs Smith (May 23, 1854 – May 3, 1928) was an American scientist who is best known today for his interests in the history of chemistry. He accumulated a large collection of pictures, books, and papers related to the history of chemistry, and which today forms the nucleus of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection.

Life and work

Edgar Fahs Smith was born in York, Pennsylvania and earned his college degree at Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg (now Gettysburg College) in 1874. He received his Ph.D. under Friedrich Wöhler in Göttingen in 1876. Smith then returned to the United States and, in time, became associated with the University of Pennsylvania, first as a professor of chemistry and then as Provost. Smith's scientific research covered the fields of electrochemistry, the determination of atomic weights, and the rare-earth elements.

Smith was a co-founder of the American Chemical Society's History of Chemistry division. He served three times as president of the American Chemical Society and was president of the American Philosophical Society (1902-1908) and the History of Science Society (1928). In 1898 Smith was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. [cite journal | author = Browne, C. A. | title = Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | year = 1928 | volume = 38 | pages = 656 – 663]

He was awarded the Priestley Medal in 1926.

Smith died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1928. [cite journal | author = Taggart, Walter T. | title = Edgar Fahs Smith | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | year = 1932 | volume = 9 | pages = 613 – 619]

Books

* "Chemistry in America" (1914)
* "The Life of Robert Hare" (1917)
* "James Woodhouse" (1918)
* "Priestley in America" (1920)

References

External links

* [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/people/1800s/smith_edgar_fahs.html Biography]
* [http://preview.interlockingmedia.com/acslandmarks/landmarks/fahs/biography.html Biography]
* [http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/HIST/roster/officerbios/SmithEdgarFahs.pdf Biography (brief)]
* [http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/smith.html Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection]
* [http://membership.acs.org/p/philadelphia/awards/Edgar_Fahs_Smith_lectureship.html Edgar Fahs Smith Lectureship]
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