The August in Sol-Gel (and Materials Chemistry) History

Frederic Stanley Kipping
(Born 16 August 1863): British chemist who was a pioneer in silicon chemistry. He coined the term “silicones” to refer to compounds such as alkyl- and arylsilanes and his research underpinned the development of synthetic rubber and silicone-based lubricants. The Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry is now awarded biennially to recognise outstanding contributions in the field of silicon chemistry (see Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry – American Chemical Society (acs.org), Frederic Stanley Kipping 1863-1949 | Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society (royalsocietypublishing.org) , Frederic Stanley Kipping—Pioneer in Silicon Chemistry: His Life & Legacy | SpringerLink and August 16 – Today in Science History – Scientists born on August 16th, died, and events).

Hideki Shirakawa
(Born 20 August 1936): Japanese chemist and engineer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 for the discovery of conductive polymers, in collaboration with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger. In 1977, while working at the University of Pennsylvania, they discovered that the conductivity of polyacetylene (developed by Shirakawa at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1975) could be enhanced by doping with iodine (see Hideki Shirakawa – Biographical (nobelprize.org), Hideki Shirakawa – Wikipedia and August in Chemistry (lemoyne.edu))

Cesar Augusto Sciammarella
(Born 22 August 1924): Argentinian materials scientist who has made significant contributions in experimental mechanics, including fundamental research in methods for 3D reconstruction and stress/strain analysis. He has also made seminal contributions in optical technology, developing techniques to overcome the Rayleigh limit that had generally been considered to be a barrier in optical imaging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Sciammarella, Date of Birth, Place of Birth (bornglorious.com) ).

Mary Ellen Weber
(Born 24 August 1962): American physical chemistry and NASA astronaut, selected to be part of NASA’s 14 th group of astronauts in 1992. She has logged over 450 hours in space and is one of NASA’s youngest astronauts. Her research activities have included work on the physics of silicon chemistry and the growth of colon cancer tissue in outer space, leading to her role as a NASA spokesperson for biotechnology (see Mary Ellen Weber – Wikipedia, Dr. Mary Ellen Weber | National Women’s History Museum (womenshistory.org)Mary Ellen Weber | National Aeronautics and Space Administration Wiki | Fandom and Mary Ellen Weber, Date of Birth, Place of Birth (bornglorious.com)).