Albert Leon Henne (1901–1967) was an American
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
known for his work on refrigerants.
Henne was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1901. He earned his PhD from the
University of Brussels in 1925 with a dissertation titled "The Stereoisomers of Chloroiodoethylene". He came to the United States in 1925 as a fellow of the Belgian-American Education foundation at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
and became a
naturalized citizen
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
in 1933.
Henne's association with the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
Department of Chemistry began in 1931 when he began service as a Special Lecturer and as Director of Research for what was formally called the Midgley Foundation housed in the organic chemistry laboratories at OSU. He served in this capacity until 1938 when he was appointed associate professor of chemistry. He assisted Professor
Cecil E. Boord in setting up and organizing the
American Petroleum Institute
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in extraction of petroleum, production, oil refinery, refinement, pipeline ...
Project at Ohio State. Henne was appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1942 and served in this capacity as a teacher and research advisor until just before his death in 1967.
In his research, Henne developed many of the different
freon
Freon ( ) is a registered trademark of the Chemours Company and generic descriptor for a number of halocarbon products. They are stable, nonflammable, low toxicity gases or liquids which have generally been used as refrigerants and as aerosol p ...
variants, bringing modern
refrigeration
Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...
to the masses, and pioneering
organofluorine chemistry
Organofluorine chemistry describes the chemistry of organofluorine compounds, organic compounds that contain a carbon–fluorine bond. Organofluorine compounds find diverse applications ranging from Lipophobicity, oil and hydrophobe, water repell ...
.
References
External links
Albert Leon Henne, Chemistry Ohio State University
Albert L. Henne John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henne, Albert
20th-century American chemists
1967 deaths
1901 births
Belgian emigrants to the United States
Massachusetts Institute of Technology people
Ohio State University faculty