O. Theodor Benfey

O. THEODOR BENFEY begins the interview with a description of his childhood in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. He tells of his experiences in England, where he was a student during the war, and then his move to the United States for a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University. He describes the development of his interest in physical organic chemistry and structure, and the history of chemistry, and recounts his career as a professor of chemistry and history of science at Haverford, Earlham, and Guilford Colleges. Benfey also tells of his parallel career as a writer, translator and editor and gives details of the various translations he has published, and recalls his term as editor of Chemistry magazine. He concludes with his memories of his studies in Japan and China and his current interests.

Columbia University

1947 - 1948 London University Postdoctoral Fellow

Haverford College

- 1948 Instructor of Chemistry

Haverford College

1948 - 1955 Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Haverford College

1955 - 1956 Associate Professor of Chemistry

Harvard University

1955 - 1956 Research Fellow

Earlham College

1956 - 1973 Associate Professor of Chemistry and History of Science; Professor of Chemistry and History of Science

Earlham College

1971 - 1972 Chairman of Chemistry Department

Guilford College

1973 - 1988 Dana Professor of Chemistry and History of Science; also periodically chairperson of the chemistry department

Guilford College

1977 - 1979 Clerk of Faculty

International Christian University, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

1985 - 1986 Visiting Professor of Chemistry and Research Fellow

Chemical Heritage Foundation

1989 Editor, Beckman Center News; Othmer Library News; Chemical Heritage

University of Pennsylvania

1990 Adjunct Professor, Department of History and Sociology of Science

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was 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 has 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 the foundation’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. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.