Friday, March 17, 2006 Miller Inn 3931 West State Street Milwaukee, WI

DIRECTIONS

Glass is a material that is as old as civilization and yet as modern as fiber optics. We use a great variet of glass products both in our everyday lives and in the field of chemistry. But for most of us, the nature and chemistry of glass tend to remain obscure. Using a historic approach, this talk will focus on the basic chemistry of glass and the methods used to form it into useful objects. A half dozen major glass families will be examined, and their unique and useful properties will be related to their chemical composition and treatment. Several demonstrations will be used to show some of the special properties of glass. The presentation will touch on some of the interesting and puzzling aspects of glass that have been observed over the past 5000 years.

Kenneth E. Kolb, professor of chemistry (chair 1967-1989) at Bradley University, Peoria, IL, received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Louisville and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Ohio State University. For five years he was a research chemist at AMOCO in Chicago and then a research associate for seven years at Corning Glass in Corning, NY. He joined Bradley University in 1965. He also was a visiting professor in 1981, 1984 and 1987 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has also taken part in the ICE program there. He has been active in the American Chemical Society both locally and nationally, especially in the Division of Chemical Education. His current academic interests are teaching since 1969 a unique course, chemistry and civilization, a junior level course for non-science majors, and a senior level course in petrochemicals.