ACS National Historical Chemical Landmarks

The National Historic Chemical Landmarks program was launched by the American Chemical Society in 1992 to recognize significant achievements in the history of chemistry and related professions. The program celebrates the centrality of chemistry. The designation of such generative achievements in the history of chemistry demonstrates how chemists have benefited society by fulfilling the ACS vision: Improving people's lives through the transforming power of chemistry.
The program occasionally designates International Historic Chemical Landmarks to commemorate "chemists and chemistry from around the world that have had a major impact in the United States".

List of landmarks

1993

*Bakelite, the world's first completely synthetic plastic, developed by Leo Baekeland around 1907

1994

* Chandler Chemistry Laboratory at Lehigh University, constructed in 1884
*Joseph Priestley House, U.S. home of Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen, from 1798 to 1804

1995

*Research on the atomic weight of oxygen conducted by Edward Morley at Case Western Reserve University, published in 1895
*Nylon, the first totally synthetic fiber used in consumer products, commercialized by DuPont in 1939
*First U.S. facility to produce acetyl chemicals commercially using coal gasification technology, opened by Eastman Chemical Company in 1983
* Riverside Laboratory for oil refining research, constructed by Universal Oil Products in 1921

1996

*Williams-Miles History of Chemistry Collection at Harding University, established in 1992
*The Houdry process for catalytic cracking of crude petroleum into gasoline, developed by Eugene Houdry and the Sun Oil Company in the 1930s
*Kem-Tone Wall Finish, the first commercially successful water-based paint, introduced by Sherwin-Williams in 1941
*The Sohio process for production of acrylonitrile, developed by Sohio in 1957 and commercialized in 1960

1997

*First use of radiation chemistry for commercial products by Raychem Corporation in 1957
* Electrolytic production of bromine (also known as the Dow process) by Herbert Henry Dow in 1891 at the Evens Mill in Midland, Michigan
*The Hall-Héroult process for production of aluminum by electrochemistry, discovered by American chemist Charles Martin Hall in 1886 and independently the same year by French chemist Paul Héroult
* Gilman Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, built between 1916 and 1917 in Berkeley, California

1998

*Discovery of histamine H₂-receptor antagonists and the introduction of Tagamet by scientists at Smith Kline and French in 1976
*Discovery of an electric arc process for the commercial production of calcium carbide and acetylene, discovered by Canadian inventor Thomas Willson in 1892
*Research and production of synthetic rubber, developed by the United States Synthetic Rubber Program between 1939 and 1945
*Havemeyer Hall at Columbia University, built between 1896 and 1898 under the direction of Charles Frederick Chandler in New York City, New York
*First commercial fluid bed reactor for petroleum cracking, which went on stream in 1942 at the Baton Rouge Refinery of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
*The Raman Effect, discovered by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman in 1928 at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science

1999

* Hermann Staudinger's research on macromolecular chemistry at the University of Freiburg between 1926 and 1956
*Synthesis of physostigmine by Percy Lavon Julian at DePauw University in 1935, which made physostigmine readily available for the treatment of glaucoma
*Work of Antoine Lavoisier