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Transmutations is a biannual newsletter designed to keep friends and supporters of the Chemical Heritage Foundation in touch with our latest projects and activities.
Citation preview
Chemical Heritage
Foundation TransmutationsN O . 4 � FA L L 2 0 0 8 Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future
Illuminates Impact of20th-Century Science
Today’s typical consumer expects effective medicines,
a wide range of safe foods, ever-faster communi-
cations, and myriad other modern conveniences.
Without the chemical and molecular sciences these
expectations could not be met, much less exceeded,
and the story of human development would greatly
differ from the one we currently know. Yet the work
of chemists and chemical engineers is quickly taken
for granted.
Raymond J. Giguere, a professor of chemistry at Skidmore
College, recognized this lack of public awareness and set out
to illuminate the impact of significant molecules as well as the
science that enabled their discovery. The result is Molecules
That Matter, a fascinating traveling exhibition that showcases
ten organic molecules that profoundly altered modern life.
The scientific and sociological implications of each molecule
are explored through contemporary art, historical artifacts,
and large-scale molecular models.
Identifying ten molecules that best capture scientific
achievement in the 20th century was not a quick or easy process.
In 2005 Giguere and his colleagues at Skidmore’s Frances
Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery invited CHF to
collaborate on the project. A committee of ten professionals
from higher education, industry, and CHF then ruminated on
molecules with far-ranging significance.
The final selection, reviewed by chemistry Nobel laureates
Roald Hoffmann and Dudley Herschbach, is a balanced range of
compounds that includes pharmaceuticals, consumer-industrial
polymers, and unique molecules: aspirin, isooctane, penicillin G,
polyethylene, nylon 6,6, DNA, progestin, DDT, Prozac, and buck-
minsterfullerene (also known as the buckyball). The committee
associated each molecule with one decade of the 20th century
according to date of discovery or period of impact.
Once the molecules were chosen, a team of CHF and
Skidmore staff members began performing additional research,
commissioning and collecting art, tracking down pertinent
artifacts, and working with fabricators on the molecular models,
which are 2.5 billion times larger than actual size. This juxtapo-
sition of objects makes Molecules That Matter a one-of-a-kind
experience that blurs the boundaries of art, natural science, and
social science.
MoleculesTHAT MATTER
A one-of-a-kind
experience
that blurs the
boundaries
of art, natural
science, and
social science.
c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 8Molecular models suspended in the Francis Young Tang TeachingMuseum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. Photo by Art Evans.
2
exhibition about ten organic molecules that changed the
course of the 20th century. You can read more about the
latter on page 1, but I also urge you to visit CHF and see
firsthand how impressive these installations really are.
And that is not the only way to stay involved! Such big
finishes do not mean it is time to take a break. Instead CHF
is seizing the opportunity for new beginnings, and I hope
you will join us.
As you read this, we are putting the finishing touches
on CHF’s new strategic plan. The document that lays out this
plan, “Creating the Future,” represents the efforts and imag-
ination of many people, but I also seek the counsel of the
Transmutations
Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future
Writer and Coordinator : Margo Bresnen
Editor : Mary El len Burd
Design: SnyderCreat ive
Off ice of Advancement
Director of Advancement: Rick Sherman
Phone: 215-873-8254 . Fax: 215-629-5254
E-mai l : rsherman@chemheri tage.org
CHF General Information
315 Chestnut Street . Phi ladelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-925-2222 . Fax: 215-925-1954
www.chemheri tage.org
Open to the public: Monday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
N O . 4 � FA L L 2 0 0 8
Chemical Heritage Foundation
A Letter from the President and CEO
As we near the end of 2008, my natural inclination is to
notice all that CHF has achieved in the last several months.
Since becoming CHF’s second president on 1 January, I have
seen many exciting events unfold from a front-row seat.
For instance, this fall brings the triumphant close of CHF’s
25th Anniversary Initiative, the most successful campaign in
our organization’s history, in which we have exceeded our
$75 million goal thanks to the generous support of our many
friends (for more information, see page 14). Your contributions
encourage us to keep up the good work, and for that I extend
my gratitude.
Under the category of good work falls CHF’s other notable
accomplishment in 2008: the opening of our new museum
and conference center. Ten years of hard work have paid
off in CHF’s magnificent new galleries, home to Making
Modernity, the permanent exhibition that highlights the
untold story of the chemical and molecular sciences, and,
for this season only, Molecules That Matter, a traveling
Above: Thomas R. Tritton.Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.
Right: Molecules That Matter in CHF’s Clifford C. Hach Gallery.
Photo by Gregory Tobias.
3
entire CHF community. I therefore invite you to read a draft of
“Creating the Future” and to get back to me with reactions,
comments, critique, suggestions, and any other forms of
wisdom you would like to convey. Your advice will inform
my own thinking as well as the final version of the plan,
providing it with the strongest vision for CHF’s future directions
and emphases. To request a copy and to offer feedback, write
While CHF is a relatively small organiza-
tion, small does not describe the scope of
our ambition. We do a lot; so much, in fact,
that it is difficult to explain our essence in
short and simple statements, but we are
giving it a try. We are reworking our mission
statement, and we are refocusing around
three central themes—collections, education,
and policy—that will lend CHF the most
relevance in the chemical and molecular
sciences, technologies, and industries as well as in the wider
world. We are proving that CHF’s complex and unique nature
is exactly what keeps us vital.
I am highly confident in CHF’s ability to forge a path
for growth that proves as compelling as our history. I have
already asked the staff to accept this new challenge,
and now I extend the invitation to you. Together we have
accomplished a great deal, but our work is never done.
Realizing the next level of our potential depends on your
continued enthusiasm and support.
Please stay tuned for updates on our progress through
this newsletter and other sources. And thank you again for all
that you have done and will continue to do to sustain CHF.
Thomas R. Tritton
Below: Archival objects enhance the timeline in CHF’s installationof Molecules That Matter. Bottom: Vials of molecules at theentrance to the Hach Gallery. Photos by Gregory Tobias.
4
He also became an active philanthropist and strong advocate
of civic responsibility, known especially for his work on behalf
of medical facilities and youth organizations.
Current and former senior executives of Rohm and Haas
and many Haas family friends turned out in May to honor
John Haas in CHF’s new E. I. du Pont Conference Center.
A premier suite overlooking Independence National Historical
Park was dedicated as the Otto Röhm and Otto Haas
Conference Room.
Rohm and Haas CEO Rajiv L. Gupta and CHF president
and CEO Thomas R. Tritton remarked on John Haas’s many
years with the company, his philanthropy in the Philadelphia
region and beyond, and his long involvement with CHF,
which dates to its earliest stages. For more than two
decades since, John Haas has continuously served on
CHF’s advisory boards and development committees and
generously given of his time, resources, and knowledge.
We thank John Haas and those who contributed in
his honor to establish the Otto Röhm and Otto Haas
Conference Room.
Otto Röhm, a chemist, and Otto Haas, a businessman, formed
a partnership in 1909 to manufacture and sell a unique
chemical product to the Philadelphia-based tanning industry.
Rohm and Haas Company quickly became a leader in acrylic
chemistry, developing Plexiglas, paint emulsifiers, coatings,
adhesives, and other key materials.
Now the once-tiny firm is one of the world’s top specialty
materials companies, with more than 100 locations in 25
countries, over 15,000 employees, and sales approaching
$10 billion. And next year Rohm and Haas will celebrate its
100th anniversary in the United States.
One critical component in Rohm and Haas’s growth and
success is the thoughtful stewardship of John C. Haas, the
younger son of Otto Haas. Educated as a chemical engineer
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Haas
joined the company in 1942. Over the next 50 years he served
Rohm and Haas in many capacities, including director of per-
sonnel, executive vice president, and chairman of the board.
Premier Conference Suite Dedicated in Honor of John C. Haas
Above: The Otto Röhm and Otto Haas Conference Room at CHF.Top: John C. Haas, right, enjoys the event with, from left, his son
Lenny, wife Chara, and son David. Photos by Douglas A. Lockard.
5
In recent years CHF has delivered valuable content to televi-
sion viewers. In 2006 the Science Channel’s series 100
Greatest Discoveries, hosted by Bill Nye, featured CHF in
its “Chemistry” episode. In February 2007 public television
stations nationwide aired the NOVA special “Forgotten
Genius,” a CHF collaboration with WGBH and Moreno/Lyons
Productions about the life of scientist Percy Julian. And last
October the PBS series Wired Science examined chemistry
sets from CHF’s collections in its premiere episode.
But CHF also strives to reach people who look to other,
newer sources for programming and information. To broaden
its audience, CHF has embraced the latest in communication
technology, including podcasting.
Podcasting refers to the regular Web-based distribution
of digital media files, which users download to portable
media players or personal computers to play back at a con-
venient time. The vast majority of podcasts are provided free
of charge, and the ability to podcast using inexpensive and
accessible technology makes it possible for organizations
like CHF to reach larger constituencies.
CHF’s weekly audio podcast, Distillations, seizes an
opportunity to enhance public appreciation of the chemical
and molecular sciences, technologies, and associated
industries in a new venue. The series, which debuted on
CHF Attracts New Audiences with
P o d c a s t
Distillations’ executive producer,Audra Wolfe, reviews a script.Photo by Victoria M. Indivero.
6
14 December 2007, brings historical perspective to contem-
porary issues in these fields. With examples from both the
distant and recent past, Distillations highlights how scientific
advances have improved our lives and how society can affect
the pace and direction of these advances. This exploration of
science’s historical roots is CHF’s distinct contribution to
the world of science podcasting, and it is attracting a lot
of attention.
As of 30 June Distillations had totals of about 34,000
visits, and nearly 24,000 downloads, well positioning the
podcast to reach the goal of 50,000 downloads in its first
year. It has a remarkably international subscriber base, with
repeat listeners from more than 20 countries. And a variety
of college and high-school classrooms, chemistry libraries,
online resource pages, and blogs have linked to Distillations’
Web site, where all of the 8– to 12–minute episodes can be
accessed.
Each episode of Distillations uses interviews, commen-
taries, reviews, and features to provide strong narratives
and expert opinions on a unifying theme.
For instance “Wonder Drugs,”
which aired on 22 February,
addresses how modern phar-
maceuticals, from antibiotics
to chemotherapy, have trans-
formed the experience of
illness in the 20th century.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder
and chair of Biocon, discussed
how the global pharmaceutical
business is changing the culture
of science in India, while
David Caruso, manager of
the Biomedical Sciences and
Technologies Program of CHF’s
Center for Contemporary History
and Policy, commented on the
far-reaching effects of phar-
maceuticals in social, economic,
and political history.
Distillations
highlights
how scientific
advances have
improved our
lives and how
society can
affect the pace
and direction
of these
advances.
7
Market research and
Internet trend analysis indi-
cate that podcasting has
already become a powerful
communication tool, and its
importance will only increase
in the near future. As large
segments of the public, espe-
cially younger generations,
turn toward new media as
sources of information, it is
vital that CHF continue to
diversify the ways in which
it pursues its mission.
Distillations is an early, suc-
cessful step in that direction.
Distillations is a presentation of CHF and is made
possible by the generous support of the Richard
Lounsbery Foundation. To learn more about the
podcast, download an episode, or subscribe, please go
to http://distillations.chemheritage.org. Distillations
is also available on iTunes. Look for a new episode
every Friday.
CHF’s BlogsCHF followed up its podcasting venture by entering
the blogosphere.
� Periodic Tabloid is an ongoing record of Thomas
R. Tritton’s transition from college president to
president and CEO of CHF. Expect to be informed
and amused as Tritton shares his thoughts on this
new chapter of his career, on chemistry education,
and on scientific research.
� The Collective Voice offers a glimpse into the
world of CHF’s curatorial team as they open CHF’s
new museum, the completion of a project ten
years in the making. Discover the ins and outs of
exhibition planning through the staff’s tales of
achievements and challenges.
� The Center is CHF’s latest blog, where members of
the Center for Contemporary History and Policy
analyze current issues in biotechnology, electronics,
nanotechnology, and environmental science, evalu-
ating them through a historical lens.
To read and comment on these blogs, or for more
information, visit www.chemheritage.org.
The exploration
of science’s
historical roots
is CHF’s distinct
contribution
to science
podcasting.
8
Take Prozac, the molecule positioned at 1980 in Molecules
That Matter’s timeline. The first selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitor, Prozac emerged as a major new approach to treating
clinical depression in 1988, when it was approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. Within five years more than
eight million people had taken Prozac, and in 1999 Fortune
listed this revolutionary drug as one of its products of the
century. Artist Melissa Gwyn’s painting Prozac illustrates
use of the drug as so widespread that traces are found
in groundwater. The exhibition also includes examples of
Prozac’s cultural pervasiveness—a button declaring “Prozac
makes it better,” a pill case engraved with “Chance made us
sisters, Prozac made us friends”—as well as its controversial
standing in the chemical-imbalance hypothesis, which critics
claim is promoted by pharmaceutical companies merely to
sell such medications. The sheer scale of the
Prozac model reinforces the enormity of this
molecule’s impact.
Molecules That Matter opened at the Tang in
September 2007 and moved to CHF in July 2008.
It is the first installation to appear in the Clifford
C. Hach Gallery, the area in CHF’s new museum
devoted to rotating, science-themed exhibitions.
To fully seize the opportunity presented by hosting
this exhibition, CHF has organized a companion
lecture series for Molecules That Matter. Robert
S. Langer, Eric Roston, Chrissy Conant, Sandra
Steingraber, and Dawn A. Bonnell—all leaders
in their respective fields—are offering their
perspectives on the molecules, on the science in
everyday experiences, and on the promise and
peril of discovery and innovation.
Molecules That Matter
c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1
Top: Excerpts from the exhibition’s timeline. Above: A student tours Molecules That Matter
at the Tang. Photo by Art Evans.
9
These lectures are one more way that Molecules That
Matter encourages the general public to become informed
about and engaged with the socioscientific issues it
explores. For while our power over matter has vastly
improved the human experience, it has also affected the
biosphere in unanticipated ways, creating major challenges
for the world today. These challenges demand a better public
understanding of modern science, including the appreciation
of why molecules matter—the ultimate end to which this
exhibition aims.
Molecules That Matter remains in CHF’s Hach Gallery
through January 2009. Its tour then continues to The College
of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio; Baylor University in Waco,
Texas; and Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Funding for the
exhibition has been provided by The Camille and Henry
Dreyfus Foundation, the Hach Scientific Foundation, Amgen,
the Friends of the Tang, and donors to the Chemical Heritage
Foundation. To learn more about the Molecules That Matter
exhibition, the lecture series, or how to visit CHF’s new
museum, please go to www.chemheritage.org.
In conjunction with the Molecules That Matter
exhibition, CHF has invited five speakers, all leaders
in their fields, to offer perspectives on the molecules,
on the science in everyday experiences, and on the
promise and peril of discovery and innovation.
$15 per lecture. $45 for series. Students free with
valid ID. To register for the remaining lectures, or for
more information, visit www.chemheritage.org.
25 September
Biomaterials and How They Will Change Our Lives
Robert S. LangerInstitute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7 October
The Beauty of Science and the Science of Beauty
Eric Rostonauthor of The Carbon Age: How Life's Core Element Has Become Civilization's Greatest Threat
21 October
An Artist Hijacks the Biochemistry of Life
Chrissy Conantartist featured in Molecules That Matter
11 November
The Many Faces of DDT
Sandra Steingraberauthor of Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
9 December
Linking Proteins, Wires, Dots, and Molecules into Useful Devices
Dawn A. BonnellTrustee Professor of Materials Science and director of the Nano/Bio Interface Center, University of Pennsylvania
Molecules THAT MATTERLecture Series
5:00 p.m. Exhibition opens
6:00 p.m. Lecture begins
7:00 p.m. Reception
farm. Still, Hach-Darrow’s mother, a former schoolteacher,
was anxious that her daughter go to college. And, with
precocious entrepreneurial skill, Hach-Darrow earned
seven hundred dollars from the sale of her turkeys in a
Thanksgiving market, which allowed her to attend what is
now Columbia College.
From there Hach-Darrow transferred to Iowa State
University, where she met Hach, who was studying analytical
chemistry and working in the laboratory of Harvey C. Diehl, Jr.
During World War II Hach received a deferment because many
of the lab’s projects—including the purification of thorium
and the generation of carbon dioxide—directly supported
the war effort.
During a date early in their relationship, Hach gave Hach-
Darrow a wrapped package containing Otto Eisenschiml’s
Without Fame: The Romance of a Profession. “Cliff said,
‘I want you to read this because we’re going to build a
chemical company,’” Hach-Darrow recalls. In 1943 the couple
married. Four years later Hach received his degree and bought
one acre of a flood plain in Ames, Iowa. On that land he and
Kathryn “Kitty” Hach-
Darrow and her first
husband, Clifford C.
Hach, after founding
their chemical company
in 1947, quickly became
legends in the water-analysis industry. Hach-Darrow ingen-
iously applied her love of aviation to the remarkable corporate
success she shared with Hach, flying to remote areas to
assist eager customers with the company’s groundbreaking
products. In fact Hach-Darrow’s passion for flying predates
even her business sense, which she first exhibited by raising
and selling turkeys to finance her college tuition.
Hach-Darrow grew up in rural Missouri during the Great
Depression. Before the economy buckled, her father was a
Ford Motor Company dealer who flew planes as a hobby, and
in 1928 he purchased an Eagle Rock biplane. “I fell in love
with airplanes at that moment and would cry to go in that
plane with my dad,” she reminisces. When the family fell on
hard times, they sold the plane and moved onto a wheat
10
Ready to FlyAbout Kathryn Hach-Darrow
11
Hach-Darrow built a three-room, cement-
block structure, which served as the lab,
office, and production facility of the business
they started, the Hach Chemical Company,
which eventually became the Hach Corporation.
The young firm’s first products were com-
pounds used for teaching organic chemistry.
The move away from selling student samples
began in 1949, when Hach produced a new
method for water testing. The home water-
softener business was emerging, but water-
softener salesmen needed a better test to
make their pitch to housewives. Soon Hach
was supplying the Model 5B Hardness Test
Kit to Culligan Water Conditioning, Sears-
Roebuck and Company, and others.
Hach then recognized an industry that did not yet fully
exist: municipal water testing. In the early 1950s the typical
municipal water authority was understaffed, it had to make
its own reagents, and it used complex procedures to test
water quality. Hach developed simplified procedures and
combined several reagents, for everything from acid to zinc,
into single-dosage powder packages, marketed as “powder
pillows.” The new product met with instant success, and the
company grew rapidly in sales and reputation. By the year
2000 the production of powder pillows had reached 200
million units per year.
In addition to filling a demonstrated need
with their revolutionary product, the Hach
Corporation set standards in customer service.
It was an early provider of phone-based tech-
nical service, and it established a hands-on
training center. But it was most famous for its
flying. Hach-Darrow essentially brought the
company to underserved customers by piloting
her planes to small rural towns, where she
provided technical training and on-site prob-
lem solving. She was known throughout the
water-analysis industry as the woman whose
sales force was ready to fly anywhere to fix
things fast.
In 1957, just ten years after they founded
the company, the Hachs jointly won the
American Water Works George Fuller Award
for distinguished service in the water-supply
field. The Hach Corporation became publicly
traded in 1968 and by 1998 had sales of $150
million per year. Hach-Darrow oversaw the
business operations, marketing, and other
managerial aspects of the firm until its sale in
1999. In 2003, in recognition of her entrepre-
neurship, scientific contributions, and exceptional service,
Hach-Darrow was awarded the Pittcon Heritage Award and
entered the Pittcon Hall of Fame.
Today Hach-Darrow serves as chairman of the board of
the Hach Scientific Foundation, which provides scholarships
to chemistry students and teachers. She and her son, Bruce
Hach, who also serves on the Hach Scientific Foundation’s
board of directors, have collaborated with CHF on several
projects, including an oral history and the traveling exhibition
Her Lab in Your Life: Women in Chemistry. They also made
the lead gift in support of the creation of CHF’s new museum,
in which the gallery for rotating exhibitions was dedicated in
Clifford C. Hach’s memory. For more information about the
Clifford C. Hach Gallery, please visit www.chemheritage.org.
Hach-Darrow
was known
as the woman
ready to fly
anywhere to
fix things fast.
Left page, bottom to top: Kathryn Hach-Darrow pilots a BeechcraftBonanza. Hach-Darrow, wearing helmet and goggles, with family members and her father’s Eagle Rock biplane. Above: Hach-Darrowbeside one of her beloved planes. Photos courtesy Hach Scientific Foundation.
Masao Horiba proved the exception to the Japanese adage
that the nail that stands out gets beaten down. Horiba forged
his own path to corporate success, becoming a pioneer in the
analytical instrument industry and building a giant global
organization out of little more than a storefront operation.
Today Horiba dares others to be distinct. “Let the nail stand
out” is a cornerstone of his management philosophy, and his
own story is proof of the achievement that may follow.
In his youth Horiba dreamed of becoming a nuclear
physicist. But when, in 1945, American authorities banned
the study of nuclear physics in Japan, he had to find a new
goal. Horiba decided to abandon his studies at Kyoto
University and instead face the challenges of the free market.
He founded his own firm, Horiba Radio Laboratory (HRL),
which specialized in the production of electronic parts, the
repair of measurement instruments, and the restoration of
discarded batteries. Batteries were a particularly profitable
business, as postwar Japan’s power-distribution system was
not very consistent. HRL also made such medical devices as
electric-pulse oscillators, which were used in hospitals.
In 1952 Horiba developed a new product that would
change the course of the company. Japan’s economy was
booming, and the Japanese chemical and food industries
needed low-cost, dependable pH meters, but imported
versions were expensive and unreliable in Japan’s humid
climate. Soon Horiba pH meters were launched onto a ready
market with instant success, reaching sales in excess of
one million yen per month in the first year. The meters quickly
gained a reputation for excellence, and “pH equals Horiba”
became an accepted maxim in the Japanese chemical world.
In 1953 HRL became Horiba Ltd., with Horiba as president.
Aware that continued commercial success depends on
seizing new opportunities, Horiba next sought to broaden the
range of analytical instruments his company produced.
Japan’s chemical industry
was shifting its focus from
liquid-phase to gas-phase
reactions, and Horiba
foresaw a market for
reliable, inexpensive, and
12
The NailThat Stood OutAbout Masao Horiba
Above: Masao Horiba as a young student. Right: Horiba’s first pH meter, the Model H.
Photos courtesy Horiba, Ltd.
efficient gas analyzers. In 1958 Horiba staked the company’s
future on the development of infrared (IR) analyzers. Sales of
IR units were slow at first but took off in 1962.
Horiba Ltd.’s IR expertise became the basis of its next
great success, which occurred in the context of growing
international concern about the environment in the early
1960s. Government researchers approached the company
about using a version of the Horiba exhalation-measuring
system, a device designed for medical use, to gauge
auto emissions. “I couldn’t believe what they were
saying,” Horiba recalls. “This machine is used in
operating rooms, where the air is
clean and dust free. How can you
measure gas with dust and oil in it?
I declined their order.”
But Masahiro Oura, a young sci-
entist at Horiba Ltd., saw this as an
opportunity to seize and began secretly
working on the project. Horiba was
furious when he discovered what Oura
was doing, until it became clear that
Oura already had firm orders from auto manufacturers
Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda. Horiba had to abide by
his own motto about letting the nail stand out, and
the outcome was the MEXA-1, produced in 1964.
This auto-emissions measurement device was the
first in a series, each incorporating newer technology
to achieve higher levels of sensitivity. The devices
became the springboard for Horiba Ltd.’s expansion into
foreign markets: by the mid-1970s MEXA systems were
being delivered to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and Mercedes-Benz, and additional orders poured in. Today
sales of such systems account for over 27% of the company’s
total turnover.
Confident about the course of the company, Horiba
retired as president of Horiba Ltd. in 1978. At the age of 53
he became company chairman, while the presidency was
passed to Oura. In 1992 Oura was succeeded by Horiba’s son,
Atsushi Horiba. Horiba later relinquished his executive
rights and now serves as Horiba Ltd.’s
supreme counsel.
In recent years Horiba has devoted him-
self to activities outside the company. He has
encouraged venture investment in Kyoto and
spoken about the importance of venture capital
initiatives at economic conferences. He has
also become a popular author and lecturer
on management issues, espousing his funda-
mental ideas that work must be enjoyable and
fulfilling and that business leaders should take chances and
let the nail stand out.
In recognition of his entrepreneurship, his contributions
to the instrumentation industry, and his service to society,
Horiba was awarded the Pittcon Heritage Award and entered
the Pittcon Hall of Fame in 2006. “Out of all of the awards
I have received so far, this makes me the happiest,”
he declared.
Horiba’s relationship with CHF dates from an oral history
conducted after an initial meeting at Pittcon 2003. A sub-
stantial gift from Horiba Ltd. helped make possible CHF’s
new museum, in which the Masao Horiba Exhibit Hall was
dedicated in his honor. For more information about the exhibit
hall, please visit www.chemheritage.org.
13
Above: Horiba in 2005. Left: Horiba, in center at window,embarking on his first business trip to the United States.Photos courtesy Horiba, Ltd.
Horiba forged
his own path
to success in
the analytical
instrument
industry.
14
Treasure the past Educate the present Inspire the future
25th Anniversary InitiativeProgresseventsA Note from the ChancellorSuccess has a thousand fathers, and CHF surely has cause to celebrate all
the thousands of you who have given of your time and talents to ensure the
success of our 25th Anniversary Initiative. Thank you!
CHF’s comprehensive campaign has enabled us to do three things critical
to CHF’s growing work in the world:
• To complete the fit-out and modernization of our 100,000-square-foot head-
quarters, and thereby to provide both a jewel box worthy of the treasures of
CHF’s heritage and a state-of-the-art exhibition space, conference center,
and think tank fitted to our global mission.
• To develop the staff, the educational programs, the Web and printed
publications, and the conferences and events that give life to the heritage of
the chemical and molecular sciences.
• To build the endowment that brings permanence and security to our opera-
tions and underpins our ability to accept precious heirlooms (whether 16th-
century books or the archives of a recent Nobel laureate) for time and eternity.
After 25-plus years, a nd with this landmark campaign successfully
completed, CHF is poised to take its place on the world stage as the Chemical
Heritage Foundation.
The forward march of the chemical sciences steadily accelerates its pace
(think Moore’s Law!); the challenges of education and of public understanding
increase; the need for sane perspectives on contemporary history and policy
has never been greater. Hence, like you, I look forward to CHF’s growing
ability to treasure the past, educate the present, and inspire the future.
The best is yet to be. Thank you again.
Arnold Thackray
CHF thanks
all of you
who ensured
the success
of our 25th
Anniversary
Initiative.
1515
Clockwise, from below: Leroy Hood, center, accepts the 2008 Pittcon HeritageAward from Jane Chan, Pittcon program chair, and John Varine, Pittcon presi-dent. Photo by Peter Cutts. Participants discuss the dilemmas of dual use at the2008 Gordon Cain Conference. Ronald Breslow listens to a speaker in CHF’sUllyot Meeting Hall. Haldor Topsøe, this year’s winner of The Chemists’ Club’sWinthrop-Sears Medal, on Heritage Day 2008. Nobel laureate Walter Gilbert,co-recipient of the 2008 American Institute of Chemists’ Gold Medal, left,talks with Henrik and Nan Topsøe in CHF’s rare book room. Photos by Douglas A.Lockard. Peter Huntsman, second from left, accepts the 2008 PetrochemicalHeritage Award surrounded by, from left, Gerald Law, Tom Tritton, John Shelton,Douglas Culpon, and Ron Woliver. Photo courtesy Sam’s Studio.
Chemical Heritage Foundation315 Chestnut StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19106
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