Portrait of Edgar Clay Britton (1891-1962). Born in Rockville, Indiana in 1891, Britton studied chemistry at the University of Michigan under Dr. William J. Hale. He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan in 1918 and, while at Michigan, served as both a teaching fellow and instructor in the chemistry department. In 1920, Britton left the University of Michigan to join Dr. Hale at the Dow Chemical Company as a research chemist engaged in several fields of organic chemistry, including phenols and amines, pharmaceuticals, fungicides, and plastics. In 1932, Britton became Director of the Organic Research Laboratory, a position he held until his retirement from Dow in 1956.