Oral history interview with Fred Basolo
- 1991-Mar-01
Oral history interview with Fred Basolo
- 1991-Mar-01
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Fred Basolo begins this interview by discussing his childhood in Coello, Illinois, and his elementary and high school education. He attended Southern Illinois University where he studied to be a chemistry teacher but his instructors encouraged him to attend graduate school in chemistry. At University of Illinois, he studied inorganic chemistry with John Bailar. After receiving his PhD, he worked at Rohm and Haas in Philadelphia for three years. He decided to return to academia and accepted a positions as professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University. His research interests have included kinetics and mechanisms, and metal carbonyls. Basolo describes the connections he made with Italian scientists and his American Chemical Society presidency and concludes by offering his opinion of how general and inorganic chemistry courses should be taught.
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About the Interviewer
James J. Bohning was professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he had been a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was CHF’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society. Bohning passed away in September 2011.
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| Oral history number | 0091 |
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Southern Illinois University (System) | B Ed | |
| 1942 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | MS | Inorganic Chemistry |
| 1943 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | PhD | Inorganic Chemistry |
Professional Experience
Rohm and Haas Company
- 1943 to 1946 Research Chemist
Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
- 1946 to 1948 Instructor
- 1948 to 1953 Assistant Professor
- 1953 to 1959 Associate Professor
- 1959 to 1980 Professor
- 1969 to 1972 Chairman of the Department of Chemistry
- 1980 to 1990 Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor
- 1990 to 2003 Emeritus Morrison Professor
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1954 to 1955 | Guggenheim Fellow, University of Copenhagen |
| 1961 to 1962 | Senior NSF Fellow, University of Rome |
| 1964 | Award for Research in Inorganic Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS) |
| 1969 | NATO Distinguished Professor, Technische Universität München |
| 1971 | North Regional Section Citation of Excellence, ACS |
| 1972 | John C. Bailar, Jr. Medal, University of Illinois |
| 1974 | Alumni Achievement Award, Southern Illinois University |
| 1975 | Award for Distinguished Service in Inorganic Chemistry, ACS |
| 1976 | Francis Patrick Dwyer Medal, University of New South Wales, Australia |
| 1977 | Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| 1977 | Honorary Member, Phi Lambda Upsilon |
| 1979 | Fellow, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science |
| 1979 | Member, National Academy of Sciences |
| 1981 | Honorary Member, Italian Chemical Society |
| 1981 | James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry, Northeastern Section, ACS |
| 1983 | President, ACS |
| 1983 | Oesper Memorial Award, ACS, Cincinnati Section |
| 1983 | Corresponding Member, Chemical Society of Peru |
| 1983 | Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 1984 | D. Sc. (honorary), Southern Illinois University |
| 1985 | Honorary Professor, Lanzhou University, China |
| 1987 | Foreign Member, National Academy of Science, Italy |
| 1988 | Laurea honoris causa, University of Turin |
| 1988 | IX Century Medal, Bologna University |
| 1988 | Award for Research in Inorganic Chemistry, Italian Chemical Society |
| 1988 | Honorary Professor, Zhongshan University, China |
| 1990 | Harry and Carol Mosher Award, ACS, Santa Clara Valley |
| 1991 | Padova University Medal |
| 1991 | Distincion Bicentenaria, University of Los Andes in Merida |
| 1991 | Chinese Chemical Society Medal |
| 1992 | Chemical Pioneer Award, American Institute of Chemists |
| 1992 | Sigma Xi Monie A. Ferst Award |
| 1992 | Humboldt Senior U. S. Scientist Award |
| 1993 | Gold Medal Award, American Institute of Chemists |
| 1996 | First Lecturer and Medalist of the Royal Society of Chemistry Joseph Chatt Award |
| 1996 | Josiah Williard Gibbs Medal |
| 1996 | Member, Chemistry Department Hall of Fame, Southern Illinois University |
| 1997 | Laurea honoris causa, University of Palermo, Sacconi Memorial Lecture |
| 2000 | Obelisk Leadership Award, Southern Illinois University |
| 2001 | Joseph Priestly Medal |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.