Other Local and Regional ACS Information
THE LONG ISLAND SUBSECTION
OF
THE NEW YORK AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Proudly presents
Dr. Paris Svoronos,
Professor of Chemistry
Queensborough Community College of CUNY
Title of Talk: “Otto Diels- An apolitical chemist, a grand teacher and the 1950 Nobel Prize
winner: Celebrating his 145th Year Birth Anniversary”
Synopsis: Otto Paul Hermann Diels (1876‐1954) was born in Hamburg, studied chemistry at the
University of Berlin and earned his doctorate under Emil Fischer (1899). His first academic position was
at his alma mater where he eventually became a professor and the chair of its department. He eventually
moved to the University of Kiel (1916) where he became the director of its Institute of Chemistry until
his final retirement (1948). His research first dealt with the identification of carbon suboxide (C3O2) and
continued with the skeletal structural treatment of steroids using metallic selenium as the
dehydrogenating agent. His most famous student was Kurt Alder (1902‐1958) with whom he discovered
the cyclization of a conjugated diene‐alkene (dienophile) mixture at basically room temperature, a
reaction named after them. Its most significant application was the polymerization of isoprene to
synthetic rubber whose extensive manufacture development took off in the middle 1950s. Diels and
Alder were awarded the joined Nobel prize in 1950‐ the most significant mentor‐student award. Diels’
life and chemical work are not highlighted as extensively outside the German scientific world. An effort
to highlight his private life and work that spanned over two World Wars will be attempted.
All are welcome!
When: Thursday, March 4, 2021
Where: Zoom
Time: 6:00 pm – Seminar Start
Link: https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/98215087847?pwd=dG0yRTRJNk15Um1GdHpWUmY5T3cwZz09
Meeting ID: 982 1508 7847 Passcode: 505683
OF
THE NEW YORK AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Proudly presents
Dr. Paris Svoronos,
Professor of Chemistry
Queensborough Community College of CUNY
Title of Talk: “Otto Diels- An apolitical chemist, a grand teacher and the 1950 Nobel Prize
winner: Celebrating his 145th Year Birth Anniversary”
Synopsis: Otto Paul Hermann Diels (1876‐1954) was born in Hamburg, studied chemistry at the
University of Berlin and earned his doctorate under Emil Fischer (1899). His first academic position was
at his alma mater where he eventually became a professor and the chair of its department. He eventually
moved to the University of Kiel (1916) where he became the director of its Institute of Chemistry until
his final retirement (1948). His research first dealt with the identification of carbon suboxide (C3O2) and
continued with the skeletal structural treatment of steroids using metallic selenium as the
dehydrogenating agent. His most famous student was Kurt Alder (1902‐1958) with whom he discovered
the cyclization of a conjugated diene‐alkene (dienophile) mixture at basically room temperature, a
reaction named after them. Its most significant application was the polymerization of isoprene to
synthetic rubber whose extensive manufacture development took off in the middle 1950s. Diels and
Alder were awarded the joined Nobel prize in 1950‐ the most significant mentor‐student award. Diels’
life and chemical work are not highlighted as extensively outside the German scientific world. An effort
to highlight his private life and work that spanned over two World Wars will be attempted.
All are welcome!
When: Thursday, March 4, 2021
Where: Zoom
Time: 6:00 pm – Seminar Start
Link: https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/98215087847?pwd=dG0yRTRJNk15Um1GdHpWUmY5T3cwZz09
Meeting ID: 982 1508 7847 Passcode: 505683
Westchester Chemical Society
New York Section of the American Chemical Society
SPECIAL SEMINAR – FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Because of Covid-19, this meeting will be a remote meeting. Details are at the end of this announcement. You will need to have the Zoom software on your computer to access the link.
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021
Zoom Meeting 7:00 p.m
How to Make Gold and Influence People: Prisons as Sites of Alchemical Practice in Early Modern Europe
Jennifer M. Rampling, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History,
Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ
This talk explores a neglected but fascinating theme in the history of alchemy—the strategies used by alchemical practitioners to extricate themselves from prison. In early modern Europe, alchemists found themselves incarcerated for various reasons. Some failed to make good on their gold-making promises, some were suspected of practicing magic, and others simply fell into debt. Once confined, some drew on their practical and rhetorical skills to write their way out of trouble, addressing petitions and alchemical treatises to princes and highly-placed figures in government. Perhaps surprisingly, they often ended up being released.
I will focus on English practitioners, starting in the fourteenth century when John of Walden fell foul of Edward III, and moving into the sixteenth century, when at least two alchemists were arrested as suspected conjurors under Henry VIII. Finally, the notorious Edward Kelley, best known for his collaboration with the mathematician John Dee, wrote a series of elaborate treatises to Emperor Rudolf II while imprisoned in Bohemia. Although Kelley’s “prison writings” have not been previously studied, they offer new evidence for his alchemical experiments—and show how the promise of transmutation might offer a “get out of jail free” card for beleaguered alchemists.
I will focus on English practitioners, starting in the fourteenth century when John of Walden fell foul of Edward III, and moving into the sixteenth century, when at least two alchemists were arrested as suspected conjurors under Henry VIII. Finally, the notorious Edward Kelley, best known for his collaboration with the mathematician John Dee, wrote a series of elaborate treatises to Emperor Rudolf II while imprisoned in Bohemia. Although Kelley’s “prison writings” have not been previously studied, they offer new evidence for his alchemical experiments—and show how the promise of transmutation might offer a “get out of jail free” card for beleaguered alchemists.
Jennifer M. Rampling, Associate Professor of History at Princeton University, is a historian of late medieval and early modern science and medicine, specializing in alchemy. She is the author of The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300–1700 (Chicago, 2020), as well as numerous articles on alchemical theory and practice, including that of George Ripley (fl. 1470s) and John Dee (1527–1609). From 2013–17 she edited the history of chemistry journal, Ambix.
Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Time: 7:00 PM (Zoom link available from 6:45 PM).
Place: Zoom Meeting.
Dr. Rolande Hodel, Co-Chair of the Westchester Chemical Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Speaker: Dr. Jennifer M. Rampling
Topic: Topic: HOW TO MAKE GOLD AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE: PRISONS AS SITES OF ALCHEMICAL PRACTICE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Time: Apr. 6, 2021 06:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
URL
https://sunywccedu.zoom.us/j/86861649919?pwd=cmtWdHdQQXpZRDRhNXBIaTZQQjJCQT09
Meeting ID: 868 6164 9919
Passcode: 596629
For further information: contact Rolande Hodel, rrhodel@aol.com,
Or Peter Corfield, pcorfield@fordham.edu,
Phone: 914-762-4468;
Text: 914-980-9128 or 914-218-7607.,
Or Paul Dillon, PaulWDillon2@hotmail.com,
Phone: 914-941-0890, Text: 914-393-6940
Please RSVP by text or email to Rolande Hodel, Peter Corfield or Paull Dillon if you expect to come, to help us plan. But if you do not RSVP, you can still link in.
Please note that screen prints of the Zoom screen may be taken at the meeting and may be submitted for publication in the NY/North Jersey newsletter, The Indicator. If you do not want a photo of yourself submitted, let us know at the meetin
Time: 7:00 PM (Zoom link available from 6:45 PM).
Place: Zoom Meeting.
Dr. Rolande Hodel, Co-Chair of the Westchester Chemical Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Speaker: Dr. Jennifer M. Rampling
Topic: Topic: HOW TO MAKE GOLD AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE: PRISONS AS SITES OF ALCHEMICAL PRACTICE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Time: Apr. 6, 2021 06:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting
URL
https://sunywccedu.zoom.us/j/86861649919?pwd=cmtWdHdQQXpZRDRhNXBIaTZQQjJCQT09
Meeting ID: 868 6164 9919
Passcode: 596629
For further information: contact Rolande Hodel, rrhodel@aol.com,
Or Peter Corfield, pcorfield@fordham.edu,
Phone: 914-762-4468;
Text: 914-980-9128 or 914-218-7607.,
Or Paul Dillon, PaulWDillon2@hotmail.com,
Phone: 914-941-0890, Text: 914-393-6940
Please RSVP by text or email to Rolande Hodel, Peter Corfield or Paull Dillon if you expect to come, to help us plan. But if you do not RSVP, you can still link in.
Please note that screen prints of the Zoom screen may be taken at the meeting and may be submitted for publication in the NY/North Jersey newsletter, The Indicator. If you do not want a photo of yourself submitted, let us know at the meetin
