Moses Gomberg

Organic chemist, born in Elisavetgrad, Russia. He emigrated to Chicago, USA (1884) and was associated with the chemistry department of the University of Michigan (1893–1936). He created the first stable free radical, triphenylmethyl (1900), and carried on studies of organometallic compounds. During World War 1 he worked on gases for chemical warfare, and on high explosives and smokeless powder.

Moses Gomberg (1866–1947) was a chemist.

He was born in Elizabetgrad in Russia (now in Ukraine).

In 1896–1897 he took a year's leave to work as a postdoctoral researcher to work with Baeyer and Thiele in Munich and with Victor Meyer in Heidelberg, where he successfully prepared the long-elusive tetraphenylmethane.

During attempts to prepare the even more sterically congested hydrocarbon hexaphenylethane he correctly identified the triphenylmethyl radical, the first persistent radical to be discovered, and is thus known as the founder of radical chemistry. Gomberg was a mentor to Werner Emmanuel Bachmann who also carried on his work.