C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

Noyes Laboratory:
One Hundred Years of Chemistry

A Century of Accomplishment
The Bare Facts
Nobel Prize Winners
ACS Presidents
Priestley Medal Winner

Fine Chemicals

The Illinois State Water Survey

Chemists and Chemistry at Noyes:
Roger Adams: "The Chief"
Ludwig F. Audrieth and Synthetic Sweeteners
John C. Bailar Jr. and Coordination Chemistry
St. Elmo Brady: Pioneer
George L. Clark and High-Intensity X-Ray Tubes
Willis H. Flygare and Microwave Spectrometry
Reynold C. Fuson: Teaching Chemistry
Herbert S. Gutowsky and NMR Spectroscopy
B. Smith Hopkins and the Chemistry of Rare Earths
Henry Fraser Johnstone and the Study of Air Pollution
Herbert A. Laitinen and Analytical Chemistry
Carl "Speed" Marvel: Advances in Polymer Chemistry
William A. Noyes: The Department Comes of Age
Arthur W. Palmer: The Early Years
Samuel W. Parr and Applied Chemistry
Charles C. Price III and Antimalarials
Worth H. Rodebush and Physical Chemistry
William C. Rose and Amino Acids
George F. Smith and the Aerosol Can
Harold R. Snyder and Antimalarials
Marion Sparks and Chemical Information

Landmark Designation

Born in London, Arthur Palmer received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1883 and a Sc.D. in chemistry from Harvard University in 1886. Palmer then spent a year in Germany studying with Victor Meyer and August Hofmann. In Berlin, with Hofmann, Palmer began his important work on arsines, which led three years later to proof of the existence of that series. That work was finished at Illinois, to which Palmer had returned in 1889 as an assistant professor of chemistry.

In 1895, the Illinois State Legislature appropriated money to establish the State Water Survey "for carrying on a systematic survey of the waters of the state." Palmer, with the help of a full-time assistant, directed the start of the survey. A year later, on August 15, 1896, the Chemistry Laboratory (now Harker Hall) was struck by lightning. The entire upper floor and a large portion of the second floor burned, beginning a four-year fight to convince the State Legislature to fund a new chemical laboratory. Palmer threw himself into the struggle to secure money for the new building, which eventually became Noyes Laboratory.

Palmer died two years after Noyes Laboratory opened. At his memorial service, Professor L. P. Breckenridge eulogized: "We are glad that he lived to see his cherished plans in brick and mortar finished. I shall always remember the beaming and delighted expression of his face when the money for the Chemical Laboratory was appropriated. ‘It hardly seems possible that it is true,’ he said. And then how he worked building his laboratory, watching every detail by day, and while the laborers slept he planned and thought by night."

It is commonly believed at Illinois that Palmer died of overwork. His lasting monuments are the Illinois State Water Survey and Noyes Laboratory.

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