From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Joel Henry Hildebrand
(1881-1983) was a pioneer chemist
and major figure in chemistry
research specializing in liquids
and nonelectrolyte solutions.
Education and Professorship
Hildebrand gradauted from the
University of Pennsylvania in
1903. He served briefly in the
faculty of Penn before going to
the
University of California, Berkeley
as a chemistry instructor in
1907. Within five years he
became an Assistant Professor. In
1918 he was allevated to Associate
Professor before finally being
granted Full Professorship a year
later in 1919. He served as the
Dean of the College of Chemistry
from 1949 through 1951. He retired
from full time teaching in 1952
but remained a University
Professor at Berkeley until his
death. Hildebrand Hall on the
Berkeley campus is named for him.
Accomplishments, Discoveries,
Honors
Hildebrand served on the
Council of the
National Academy of Sciences
and was also a member of the
Citizens Advisory Committee on
Education to the California
Legislature. Hildebrand had
several discoveries but his most
notable was his discovery of the
connection of the use of helium
and oxygen mixtures to alleviate
the condition known as "the
bends". This discovery was later
used to save the lives of 33
members of the submarine USS
Squalus which went down in
1939. Hildebrand won virtually
every major prize in the field of
chemistry except the
Nobel Prize. The American
Chemical Society created the Joel
Hildebrand Award in his honor for
work pertaining to the field of
theoretical and experimental
chemistry of liquids. The award is
currently sponsored by
Exxon Mobil.
