Norman Hackerman

Norman Hackerman begins the interview by describing his childhood and the public education system in Baltimore, Maryland, noting the rigorous course work and individual attention students received at City College High School. He then recounts his seven years at Johns Hopkins University, where he received both his bachelor's and Ph.D. degrees and developed interests in philosophy and psychology as well as in physical chemistry. He recalls the different labs in which he worked before his commitment to work in Patrick's lab on silica gel studies. Hackerman remarks upon the difficulties the university encountered due to the Depression, and its effects upon laboratory equipment and research. He next describes his experiences teaching at Loyola College and consulting for the Colloid Corporation, his job with the Coast Guard at the Federal Lighthouse Service, his years at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and his work on the Manhattan District Project. The final portion of the interview briefly summarizes his early teaching background at the University of Texas, his consulting work for the Lone Star Gas Company, and his creation of the Corrosion Research Laboratory (now the Balcones Research Center).

Loyola College

1935 - 1939 Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Colloid Corporation

1936 - 1940 Research Chemist

United States Coast Guard

1939 - 1941 Assistant Chemist

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

1941 - 1943 Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Kellex Corporation

1944 - 1945 Research Chemist

University of Texas at Austin

1945 - 1946 Assistant Professor of Chemistry

University of Texas at Austin

1946 - 1950 Associate Professor of Chemistry

University of Texas at Austin

1948 - 1961 Director, Corrosion Research Laboratory

University of Texas at Austin

1950 - 1970 Professor of Chemistry

University of Texas at Austin

1952 - 1961 Chairman, Chemistry Department

University of Texas at Austin

1960 - 1961 Dean of Research and Sponsored Programs

University of Texas at Austin

1961 - 1963 Vice President and Provost

University of Texas at Austin

1963 - 1967 Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

University of Texas at Austin

1967 - 1970 President

University of Texas at Austin

1985 Professor Emeritus of Chemistry

Rice University

1970 - 1985 President and Professor of Chemistry

Rice University

1985 President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Chemistry

The Robert A. Welch Foundation

1982 Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board

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.