Hermann Irving Schlesinger (October 11, 1882 – October 3, 1960) was an American inorganic chemist, working in

boron Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...

chemistry. He and Herbert C. Brown discovered

sodium borohydride Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydridoborate and sodium tetrahydroborate, is an inorganic compound with the formula (sometimes written as ). It is a white crystalline solid, usually encountered as an aqueous basic solution. Sodi ...

in 1940 and both were involved in the further development of borohydride chemistry. Schlesinger studied chemistry at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

from 1900 till 1905, where he received his Ph.D. for work with Julius Stieglitz. In the following two years, he worked with

Walther Nernst Walther Hermann Nernst (; 25 June 1864 – 18 November 1941) was a German physical chemist known for his work in thermodynamics, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid-state physics. His formulation of the Nernst heat theorem helped ...

at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

; with

Johannes Thiele Johannes Thiele may refer to: *Johannes Thiele (zoologist) *Johannes Thiele (chemist) {{hndis, Thiele, Johannes ...

at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

; and with John Jacob Abel at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. From 1907 to 1960, he taught in the department of chemistry at the

, rising through the ranks from instructor to full professor in 1922. He administered the department from 1922-1946, and retired in 1949. Schlesinger was honored by membership in the National Academy of Sciences and received the Priestley Medal, the highest honor of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Bibliography

External links

Biography

Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 64 (1994), 369–394.
1882 births 1960 deaths 20th-century American chemists American inorganic chemists {{US-chemist-stub