Eva Armstrong

Last updated
Eva Vivian Armstrong
EvaVivianArmstrong.png
Born(1877-12-22)December 22, 1877
Key West, Florida, United States
DiedMay 10, 1962(1962-05-10) (aged 84)
Occupation(s)Librarian, Curator, Historian of science
Awards Dexter Award, 1958

Eva Armstrong (December 22, 1877, in Key West, Florida - May 10, 1962) was an American secretary, librarian, curator, and historian of science. She was the original curator of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. [1] The collection, which opened on March 1, 1931, [2] was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark on March 16, 2000. [3] [4]

Contents

Armstrong also helped to establish the journal Chymia , working as secretary of the board of editors of the journal for the history of chemistry from 1948 to 1953. [5] [6] She published on the history of chemistry in journals including Chymia, Isis , and the Journal of Chemical Education . Armstrong received the Dexter Award for contributions to the history of chemistry in 1958.

Education

Eva Vivian Armstrong was born on December 22, 1877, in Key West, Florida. Armstrong attended Atlantic City High School and was then a secretary, first at the Book Lover's Agency and then at the University of Pennsylvania beginning in 1906. [5]

Edgar Fahs Smith

From 1909-1920 Armstrong was secretary of the board for the chemistry faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, chaired by Edgar Fahs Smith. She became Edgar Fahs Smith's personal secretary when he retired in 1920. She helped to develop and catalog his extensive chemistry history collection of more than 13,000 objects. [1] [7]

After Smith died in 1928, his widow Margie A.Smith bequeathed the collection to the University of Pennsylvania and appointed Eva Armstrong as curator, a position in which she remained from 1929 [1] until her retirement in 1949. [7] [2] [8] Under her guidance, the collection expanded from approximately 600 manuscripts, 1800 prints and 3,000 volumes to 1,400 manuscripts, 3,400 prints, and 7,700 volumes. Both the collection and the knowledge of its archivist were important resources for scientists and scholars worldwide, who sought her out both as visitors and as correspondents. [1]

Chymia

Armstrong was a founder of Chymia, a journal on the history of chemistry. She worked with Charles Albert Browne [6] (1870–1947), who died before the first issue appeared, [9] and Tenney L. Davis [6] (1890–1949), who served as editor-in-chief of the first two issues. [10] From the journal's foundation in 1948 to 1953, Armstrong was secretary of the Board of Editors. [6] In addition to serving on the board of Chymia, she published articles on the history of chemistry in Chymia [11] the Journal of Chemical Education , [8] Isis , the General Magazine and Historical Chronicle , the Library Chronicle , the Scientific Monthly , and other journals. [1]

Awards

In 1958 Armstrong received the Dexter Award. [1] [12] [13] "Miss Armstrong was chosen not for activity in a single field, but rather for the stimulation, inspiration and assistance that she contributed to the history of chemistry over a long period of years." [1] The memorial plaque was inscribed, "To Miss Armstrong for her noteworthy contributions to the advancement of the History of Chemistry. [6]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Kirwan</span> Irish geologist and chemist (1733–1812)

Richard Kirwan, LL.D, FRS, FRSE MRIA was an Irish geologist and chemist. He was one of the last supporters of the theory of phlogiston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore William Richards</span> American chemist and Nobel laureate (1868–1928)

Theodore William Richards was an American physical chemist and the first American scientist to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, earning the award "in recognition of his exact determinations of the atomic weights of a large number of the chemical elements."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Wolcott Gibbs</span> American chemist (1822–1908)

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was an American chemist. He is known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses, namely the reductions of copper and nickel ions to their respective metals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida Noddack</span> German chemist (1896–1978)

Ida Noddack, néeTacke, was a German chemist and physicist. In 1934 she was the first to mention the idea later named nuclear fission. With her husband Walter Noddack, and Otto Berg, she discovered element 75, rhenium. She was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Edward Armstrong</span> British chemist

Henry Edward Armstrong FRS FRSE (Hon) was a British chemist. Although Armstrong was active in many areas of scientific research, such as the chemistry of naphthalene derivatives, he is remembered today largely for his ideas and work on the teaching of science. Armstrong's acid is named for him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Fahs Smith</span> American chemist (1854-1928)

Edgar Fahs Smith was an American scientist who is best known today for his interests in the history of chemistry. He served as provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1911 to 1920, was deeply involved in the American Chemical Society and other organizations, and was awarded the Priestley Medal in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophus Mads Jørgensen</span> Danish chemist (1837–1914)

Sophus Mads Jørgensen was a Danish chemist. He is considered one of the founders of coordination chemistry, mainly by being one of the pioneers of chain theory, and is known for the debates which he had with Alfred Werner during 1893–1899. While Jørgensen's theories on coordination chemistry were ultimately proven to be incorrect, his experimental work provided much of the basis for Werner's theories. Jørgensen also made major contributions to the chemistry of platinum and rhodium compounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Albert Browne Jr.</span>

Charles Albert Browne Jr. was a sugar chemist and former head of the Bureau of Chemistry, which later became the Food and Drug Administration. He is also considered a leader in the study of the history of chemistry in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science History Institute</span> U,S, library, museum, and archive

The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Maxson Stillman</span>

John Maxson Stillman (1852-1923) was a pioneer of the history of science in the United States. He was also the first head of the chemistry department at Stanford University, as well as its first Chemistry Professor. His most enduring work was the posthumously published book The Story of Early Chemistry, decades later republished as The Story of Alchemy and Early Chemistry.

Mary Elvira Weeks was an American chemist and historian of science. Weeks was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Kansas and the first woman to be a faculty member there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foil A. Miller</span> American chemist and philatelist

Foil Allan Miller was an American chemist and philatelist best known for his work in infrared and Raman spectroscopy. He was head of the spectroscopy division of the Mellon Institute and later professor and head of the spectroscopy laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. Among other publications, he co-authored the books Course Notes on the Interpretation of Infrared and Raman Spectra (2004) and A Philatelic Ramble Through Chemistry (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Thackray</span> British science historian

Arnold Thackray is an emeritus professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Initially an English chemist, he became an entrepreneurial American. Thackray founded or extended a series of institutions, initially in Philadelphia, then on a wider scale within the History of Science Society (HSS) and through Science History Consultants, and the Life Sciences Foundation.

Fanny Rysan Mulford Hitchcock was one of only 13 American women to receive their doctorates in chemistry during the 19th-century, and was the first woman to receive a doctorate in Philosophy of Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Locke Petermann</span> American cellular biochemist

Mary Locke Petermann was an American cellular biochemist known for her key role in the discovery and characterization of animal ribosomes, the molecular complexes that carry out protein synthesis. She was the first woman to become a full professor at Cornell University's medical school.

Nina Matheny Roscher (1938—2001) was an American chemist and advocate for women and minorities in science. She also researched the history of women in chemistry, publishing the book Women Chemists (1995). She served as professor and chair of the chemistry department at American University in Washington, D.C. She received the ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences (1996) and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (1998).

Eduard Farber, also Eduard Färber or Eduard Faerber, was an Austrian-American industrial chemist and historian of chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph E. Oesper</span> American chemistry historian (1886–1977)

Ralph Edward Oesper was an American chemist and historian of chemistry. He is noted for his biographies of scientists, emphasizing their personal lives in addition to their scientific contributions. Oesper translated significant works in the field of chemistry to various languages especially English. As an independent investigator, he developed improved analytical methods. These contributions included new reagents for certain types of titrations. One such new reagent, Oesper's Salt, is named for him.

William Barry Jensen is an American chemist and chemical historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Edgar Fahs Smith</span> Statue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US

Edgar Fahs Smith is a monumental statue located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The statue was designed by sculptor R. Tait McKenzie and honors its namesake, a former provost of the university.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Miles, Wyndham D. (1960). "The Dexter Award in History of Chemistry to Eva Armstrong". Catalog of the Edgar Fahs Smith memorial collection in the history of chemistry. Boston: G. K. Hall. p. v.
  2. 1 2 "The Center for History of Chemistry: A Chronology". CHOC News. 1 (1): 3–5. 1982.
  3. "Smith Memorial Collection at the University of Pennsylvania: National Historic Chemical Landmark". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  4. "The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection in the History of Chemistry" (PDF). American Chemical Society.
  5. 1 2 Deischer, Claude K. (1964). "In Memoriam: To a Secretary, Librarian, Curator of a Library, and Historian, Eva Vivian Armstrong (1877-1962)". Chymia. 9: 13–17. doi:10.2307/27757227. JSTOR   27757227.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Deischer, Claude K. (December 1962). "Eloge: Eva Vivian Armstrong, 1877-1962: Historian and Friend of Historians". Isis. 53 (4): 500–501. doi:10.1086/349636. S2CID   144390831.
  7. 1 2 Taggart, Walter T. (1933). "THE EDGAR FAHS SMITH MEMORIAL LIBRARY ON THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRy". University of Pennsylvania Library Chronicle. 1 (3). The University of Pennsylvania.
  8. 1 2 Manning, Kenneth (2010). "A History of Chemistry". Pennsylvania State University Libraries. Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. Deischer, Claude (1949). "A Memorial Tribute to Dr. C. A. Browne, With a Bibliography of His Contributions to the History of Chemistry". Chymia. 1 (1): 11–24. doi:10.2307/27757111. JSTOR   27757111.
  10. Leicester, Henry M.; Klickstein, Herbert S. (January 1950). "Tenney Lombard Davis and the History of Chemistry". Chymia. 3: 1–16. doi:10.2307/27757143. JSTOR   27757143.
  11. "Editorial Board of Chymia". Nature. 163 (4147): 633. April 1949. Bibcode:1949Natur.163V.633.. doi: 10.1038/163633f0 .
  12. "DEXTER AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY". American Chemical Society Division of the History of Chemistry. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  13. Ihde, Aaron J. (1988). "The history of the Dexter Award. Part II: The First Decade" (PDF). Bull. Hist. Chem. 2: 11–14. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  14. Andraos, John (June 2003). "Biographies found in the Journal of Chemical Education" (PDF). Retrieved 2 March 2020.