Jacques-Emile Dubois

Jacques-Emile Dubois begins the interview with a discussion of his family and early education. He discusses his paternal grandfather's and father's roles in World War I and his family's influence, his father's in particular, on his education. Dubois then details his experiences during World War II. He describes how he studied chemistry and medicine during the German invasion of France and elucidates his active roles in the French Resistance and in post-War French politics. Next, Dubois discusses how he came to be an essential figure in the creation of the University of Saarland. He details the reasons he accepted a professorship at the university and eventually the directorship of the Chemistry Institute. He also discusses his work at the University of Paris, which he did in parallel. Dubois then describes his work in the French Ministry of Education. He describes, in particular, the need for change in the French education system and his efforts to bring it about. He also talks about his role in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and France's underdevelopment of instrument technologies at that time. Next, Dubois discusses his involvement in the creation of the chemical information system, DARC, and his important role in the Ministry of Defense. He describes how his fast kinetics research and his work at the defense ministry gave him an interest in computers and how that interest eventually led to his work in information systems. In addition, Dubois discusses his development of a topocoder instrument and his work on various information systems, including his cooperative efforts with the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). He describes his work as head of IUPAC's (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) Committee on Machine Documentation, the creation of CEDOCAR (Centre de Documentation de l'armement), and his creation of the Bureau of Scientific Information (BIS). In conclusion, Dubois discusses the successes and failures of various information systems in France.

Oral history includes an introduction by Bernice Dubois.

1943	Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille
1944	Bureau of Liberation Committee of the Isère region of France
1947	Ph.D., Physical sciences, University of Grenoble
1948	Ramsay Fellowship University College London
1956	Fulbright Smith-Mund Scholarship Columbia University

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

1948 - 1949 Scientific Advisor to the French Cultural Counselor, London, England

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

1962 - 1963 Scientific Advisor to the French Minister of Education, Paris, France

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

1963 - 1965 Joint Director of Higher Education in France

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

1963 - 1975 Member Directorate

Saarland University

1949 - 1957

Professor of Physical Chemistry and Petrochemistry

Saarland University

1949 - 1957

Director of Chemistry Institute   

Saarland University

1953 - 1957

Dean of Science Faculty

Saarland University

1957 - 1958

Guest Professor of Physical Chemistry   

Paris Diderot University

1957 - 1988

Professor, Chair of Physical Organic Chemistry, later of Chemical Informatics

Paris Diderot University

1977 - 1988

Founding Director, ITODYS (Institut de Topologie et Dynamique des Systèmes)

Palais de la Découverte, Paris

1961 - 1975

Board of Directors

French Chemical Society, Paris

1965 - 1968

Board

Ministry of Defense, Paris

1965 - 1977

Director of Research

International CODATA Committee on Elctrochemistry, Thermodynamics, and Kinetics

1966 - 1980

Member

Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris

1967 - 1997

Board of Directors

IUPAC

1969 - 1977

Chair, Interdivisional Committee on Machine Documentation

Association for Research and Development in Chemical Informatics (ARDIC), Paris

1972 - 1988

Founding President

French Physical Chemistry Society

1972 - 1974

Vice President

French Physical Chemistry Society, Paris

1974 - 1976

President

National Centre for Chemical Information (CNIC), Paris

1972 - 1989

Vice President

Curie Foundation, Paris

1977 - 1980

Co-Director

French National University Agency for Scientific and Technical Documentation and Information

1978 - 1981

Director

Cie. Generale d’Electricité, Paris

1979 - 1983

Scientific Director

Novelerg Co.

1979 - 1983

Chief Executive Officer

International Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)

1980 - 1988

French National Delegate, Vice Chair, and Chair, CODATA Artificial Intelligence and Graphics Task Group

International Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)

1980 - 1988

Vice President, CODATA/ICSU

International Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)

1994 - 1998

President

International Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA)

2000 - 2005

President, CODATA FRANCE

University of Marne-la-Vallée

1993 - 2005

Vice President, Center for Scientific Defense Studies

1946	Médaille de la Résistance, France
1989	Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur, France
1977	Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mérite, France
1948	Ancel Prize, French Chemical Society
1950	Stas Medal, Belgian Chemical Society
1953	Prix Le Bel, French Chemical Society
1954	Gold Medal, Society for the Encouragement of National Industry
1962	Commander of the Senegal Order of Merit
1962	Commander of the Order of Merit of the Ivory Coast
1965	Jecker Prize and Berthelot Medal, Academy of Sciences
1967	Commander des Palmes Académiques, France
1975	Commander of the German Order of Merit
1975	Grand Prix Technique for DARC System, City of Paris
1982	Bruylants Chair, Louvain University, Belgium
1986	Grand Prix of Graphic Animation du Festival d'Angers, Angers, France
1989	Dr. honoris causa, University of Regensburg, Germany
1991	C.A.O.C. (Correlation Analysis in Organic Chemistry) Medal, Paris
1992	Herman Skolnik Award for Chemical Information, American Chemical Society

Colin B. Burke

Colin B. Burke had recently retired from the history department at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County and held a research fellowship at Yale University when he came to CHF. He spent his residency working on his book on the history of computer-based scientific information systems and related government policies, from the 1950s through the early 1990s. He received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and currently serves as associate professor emeritus at the University of Maryland. He also served as a Fulbright Scholar in Poland and as a scholar-in-residence at the National Security Agency.