Roger Adams - Early life and education (1889-1916)

Chemist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He studied in Germany, then joined the University of Illinois in 1916. He was influential in changing the emphasis of chemistry education in the USA from pure research towards a meshing of academic and industrial needs, and his university became particularly noted for providing chemists for industry. He is also regarded as one of the founders of the modern field of organic chemistry.

Early life and education (1889-1916)

Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in a prosperous neighborhood in South Boston, the last child in a gifted family that included Adams's three older sisters (two went to Radcliffe College and one to Smith College). Adams was part of the prominent Adams family, and was descended from John Adams's grandfather.

Adams attending Boston Latin School and Cambridge Latin High School (now called Cambridge Rindge and Latin).

Adams entered Harvard University in 1905 and completed the requirements for a bachelor's degree in three years. Torrey died unexpectedly in 1910, so Adams finished his Ph.D. of 1912, Adams received a Parker Traveling Scholarship for 1912 and 1913, which he used to work at the laboratory of Emil Fischer and Otto Diels in Berlin, Germany and that of Richard Willstätter in Dahlem outside of Berlin.

After returning from Europe in 1913, Adams returned to Harvard and worked as a research assistant for Charles L. Several other prominent contemporaries of Adams at Harvard Graduate School were Elmer Keiser Bolton, Farrington Daniels, Frank C.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1916-1971)

In 1916, Adams accepted an offer of an assistant professorship from William A. Adams succeeded Noyes as department head in 1926, and remained in that position until 1954. During this time, Adams made several well-known discoveries.

Roger Adams and his students developed the so called Adams' catalyst, which is one of the most readily-prepared and active catalysts for hydrogenation reactions. Adams's group also developed a low-pressure apparatus for using the catalyst, which had a profound effect in the synthesis and structural elucidation of organic compounds as well as biochemical compounds.

Working at the Noyes Laboratory, Adams and his more than 250 graduate students made many significant discoveries:

Synthesis of chloralkyl esters by combining aldehydes and acyl chlorides.

At UIUC, Adams took charge of the Organic Chemical Manufactures ("prep labs") started by his predecessor C.G. The tested procedures developed in the lab led to the annual publication of the journal Organic Synthesis, which James Bryant Conant referred to as the "Adams Annual."

Adams vigorously researched methods of preparing local anaesthetics with Oliver Kamm who was also on the facility of UIUC and a consultant to Abbott Laboratories in a relationship that lasted into the 1960s. Volwiler, Adam's first Ph.D. In 1917, Adams was drawn into research for the U.S. Army into poison gases at American University in Washington, D.C.; Kohler, an old faculty friend of Adams from Harvard, was in charge of the Offense Section.

Adam's return to UIUC began a period (1918-1926) of intense research, with 45 Ph.D. Bush wanted to bring Adams into the National Defense Research Committee that he was organizing for President Franklin D. Many believed that Adams was the leading organic chemist in the United States, and Adams friend and former Harvard colleague James Bryant Conant was intent on Adams leading the effort to develop new explosives and create synthetic chemicals. However, Bush's efforts were stalled in getting Adams a security clearance. The Army cleared Adams, but the Navy refused. Edgar Hoover was doing surveillance on "suspect American citizens" and had been keeping a file on Roger Adams. The FBI had informed Hoover that Adams was a leading member of an apparent Communist front group called the Lincoln's Birthday Committee for the Advancement of Science. The FBI also had information that Adams was a contributing member of a suspect Japanese propaganda magazine. Adams was also suspect in the eyes of the FBI because he was doing studies into the chemical mechanisms by which the plant cannabis sativa (marijuana) affects the brain. For the purposes of this research Adams had obtained red oil extract of the plant legally from the United States Department of the Treasury. For these reasons the Office of Naval Intelligence said it would never approve security clearance for Adams.

Hoover saw that political pressure was building to give Adams security clearance and that the FBI might have its facts wrong, so eventually backed down, indicating that "Professor Adams" is a very common name and there may be some confusion.

In the end Roger Adams got his security clearance and took charge of a successful effort to manufacture synthetic rubber to replace natural rubber supplies from the Far East that had been cut off by the war. Bolton (Adams's friend from Harvard) at DuPont.

In Adams's case, the FBI had much of its information wrong. Adams was politically active, but not affiliated with any group called the Lincoln's Birthday Committee for the Advancement of Science.