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American Chemical Society

Division of the History of Chemistry

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Welcome to the ACS Division of the History of Chemistry Homepage

Mission Statement

The Division of the History of Chemistry (HIST) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) seeks to advance knowledge and appreciation of the history of the chemical sciences among chemists, students, historians of science, and the broader public by more


The recipients of the 2023 Joseph B. Lambert HIST Award of the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society Geoffrey and Marelene Rayner-Canham. This award is the successor to the Dexter Award (1956-2001) and the Sydney M. Edelstein Award (2002-2009), also administered by the Division of the History of Chemistry. The HIST Award will be presented to the Rayner-Canhams at the fall national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, August 2023.


HIST 2022 Election Results! Congratulations to all the winners and to all those members who voted.


HIST Citations for Chemical Breakthrough Award
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS for the 2023 Citations for Chemical Breakthrough Awards -- DEADLINE March 1, 2023. Please see the award's website for more information.

Presented annually to multiple awardees beginning in 2006, these awards recognize seminal chemistry publications, books and patents. The term "breakthrough" refers to advances in the fields of science embraced by the American Chemical Society that have been revolutionary in concept, broad in scope, and long-term in impact. Each award will be made to the department or institution where the breakthrough occurred, not to the individual scientist(s) or inventors.


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The ACS Division of the History of Chemistry (HIST) is celebrating its hundredth birthday as an ACS Division in 2022. Parts of our celebration of HIST's Centennial Year are:


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The Division of the History of Chemistry (HIST) recognizes the value of supporting the organization of symposia, conferences, or meetings that benefit the study and promotion of the history of chemistry. If you are organizing such an event and would like to request financial support (typically, $500 per traditional half-day session), please submit THIS FORM to the Division's Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Vera Mainz (mainz@illinois.edu) no later than two weeks before the HIST Executive Committee meets to consider such requests (i.e., during the national ACS meetings, usually in late March and late August). Most successful requests are submitted at least six months before the actual symposium or conference takes place. It should not be expected that late submissions will be considered.


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The HIST award for the Paul R. Jones Outstanding Paper Award for 2018 has been awarded to Professor Seth C. Rasmussen at North Dakota State University. The award is presented to the author of the best paper published in the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry during the previous three years, 2016, 2017, 2018.

The HIST Award for the Paul R. Jones Outstanding Paper Award for 2019 has been awarded to Professor David E. Lewis at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The award is presented to the author of the best paper published in the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry during the previous three years, 2017, 2018, 2019. Prof. Lewis has previously won the award in 1997 and 2010. This is the third time he has won this award, making him the only person to have achieved this distinction, which is a clear indicator of the high level of scholarship we have all come to expect of him.

The HIST award for the Paul R. Jones Outstanding Paper Award for 2020 has been awarded to Bill Streifer. The award is presented to the author of the best paper published in the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry during the previous three years, 2018, 2019, 2020.


The Bulletin for the History of Chemistry v48(1), 2023, is now available to members. Check out the Table of Contents.
Please remember that the special HIST Centennial issue of the Bulletin, v47(1), 2022, is OPEN ACCESS. Please share a link with your friends!

NOTE: HIST is making individual articles from the Bulletin for the History of Chemistry OPEN ACCESS and searchable EXCEPT for the last three years. These articles are available in the Open Access Directory.

Articles from the last three years are available via links from the Table of Contents for those issues FOR HIST MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. If you try to access an article, you will be prompted for a login and password. The login username is the email address you provided to the American Chemical Society and the password is your ACS member number.

If you have any problems, please email mainz@illinois.edu.

If you are not a member and want to order an individual article, please check the membership/back-issue order form.



The HIST Division archives are at the Science History Institute (formerly known as the Chemical Heritage Foundation). The finding aid is available HERE.


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