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

Guillaume François Rouelle (born 16 September 1703):
French chemist, who founded the French School of Chemistry and who taught Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Proust, among other notable scientists. He was the first to propose the currently recognised definition of salts and to introduce the term “base” into the chemical vocabulary. His other achievements included the development of a theory of distillation and deducing that the ancient Egyptians used sodium carbonate, succinic acid and coal in the process of mummification (click here, click here and click here).

Patsy Sherman (born 15 September 1930):
Co-discoverer of Scotchgard TM stain repellent treatment for fabrics (US Patent No. 3,574,791) at the 3M Company, after a fluorochemical rubber compound intended for applications in jet-fuel hoses showed unexpected hydrophobic and oleophobic properties. She was inducted into the (US) National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001 for her sustained contributions as an inventor and innovator (click here and click here).

Thomas Graham (died 16 September 1869, born 21 December 1805):
Scottish chemist who is recognised as one of the founders of colloid chemistry. He developed dialysis techniques for separating colloidal sols from electrolytes, together with Graham’s Law for the rate of diffusion of gases. In 1841, he helped to establish the Royal Chemical Society and became the Society’s first President (click here and click here).

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