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Milwaukee Section - American Chemical Society the amalgamator |
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Milwaukee Section - American Chemical Society the amalgamator |
Time and ChemistryE. Alexander HillEmeritus Professor of Chemistry
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Thursday, November 16, 2000 Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Alverno College 3400 South 43rd Street Milwaukee, WI |
DIRECTIONS |
| 6:00 PM | - Social Hour |
| 7:00 PM | - Dinner |
| 8:00 PM | - Program |
Buffet Dinner: (Prices include tax and gratuity)
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| Members/Guests | .... | $18.00 |
| Chemistry Students | .... | $9.00 |
For more than forty years, I have had active research interests in the rates and mechanisms of the reactions of organic and organometallic compounds. One possibility I considered for my talk was to take a random walk through the research areas we have worked on over the years; or alternatively, to pick out a couple of areas and discuss them in more depth. However, in view of the varied interests of the members in the Section, and the larger numbers of non-chemist guests who usually attend the November meeting, I decided to adopt a more general approach.
Time plays an important role in chemistry. Molecules move and undergo chemical reaction in a framework of time. The time-scales of importance vary from minute fractions of a second to aeons, covering a range almost inconceivable to our minds. The important chemical concepts of rate and frequency are the inverse of time – the number of incidents per unit of time. Time is also related to the inherent accuracy with which certain quantities may be known. I plan to survey a number of physical and chemical phenomena from the point of view of their time frame. In the process, I will touch upon some research areas in which I have participated, and some things which I did not participate in, partly because of the limitations of my own personal time frame. I hope that this talk will have some insight to offer to the non-scientists present and, for the chemists, that I may provide a reminder of some things that we may not often take the time to ponder.
Alex Hill is being honored as the 2000 recipient of the Milwaukee Section Award for his contributions to the Milwaukee chemistry community for over 34 years "as a scientist, educator, and as an active and contributing member of the profession."
Alex's research program has been in physical organic and organometallic chemistry, where he is one of the worlds experts on Grignard reagents. A consummate educator and scholar, he has been instrumental in developing both the undergraduate and graduate chemistry programs at the university, as well as serving on numerous university-wide faculty committees.
An active member of the Milwaukee Section of the ACS, highlights of Alex's contributions include service as Program Chair for the 19th Great Lakes Regional Meeting in 1986, and General Co-Chair for the 31st Great Lakes in 1998. Alex also served as chairman in 1994, as Councilor in 1985-87, and Alternate Councilor 1979-81 and 2000-2002.
Alex "formally" retired in May of 2000 after serving for 34 years on the faculty of the Chemistry Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He received his B.S. degree (magna cum laude) from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA in 1957 and his Ph.D. (working with John H. Richards) from Cal Tech in 1961. He was supported with a NSF predoctoral fellowship from 1957-60, and a NSF postdoctoral fellowship (working with P.S. Skell) in 1960-61.
After serving on the faculty of the University of Minnesota from 1961-66, he joined the UWM Chemistry Department in 1966. Fellowships since moving to Milwaukee include a Summer Faculty Research Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory in 1974, and Visiting Research Fellow (Sabbatical Leaves) at the University of Bristol and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1991.
Since retiring in May, Alex and his wife Barb have traveled to Vienna and have just returned from visiting China for three weeks.
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