|
1862-1915
Chemist. Born in Herisau, Canton Appenzell Outer-Rhodes. Went to the US at the age of four with his parents. He studied at Harvard and obtained his PhD at Munich, and spent most of his academic career as Chemistry professor at the University of Chicago. His major contribution to the understanding of organic chemistry was his demonstration that carbon can have a valency of 2 as well as 4. Valency is the property of an element that determines the number of other atoms with which an atom of the element can combine. Carbon is unique among elements in its ability to form bonds, which is why there are so many different types of organic compounds.
|
Genealogy
Community
