Legacy Archives Timeline

1890s

1896
Radioactivity discovered by Antoine-Henri Becquerel.

The first issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry PART A and B is published (originally The J. of Phys. Chem., 1896 - 1946: renamed J. of Phys. and Colloid Chem., 1947 - 1950; changed back to The J. of Phys. Chem., 1950 - 1996; split into PART A and B, 1997).

1897
Bayer's Felix Hoffman develops pure acetylsalicylic acid, better known as aspirin, the first large-scale commercial drug.

1900s

1901
Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff [462kb PDF] awarded first Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions.

1903
Svante A. Arrhenius [805kb PDF] awarded Nobel Prize for his electrolytic theory of dissociation.

1907
Chemical Abstracts Service created as ACS division.

Hamilton P. Cady and David F. McFarland discovered the occurrence of helium in natural gas and a method of its extraction.

Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the world’ first completely synthetic plastic.

1908
ACS divisions established for Agricultural & Food Chemistry, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry.

Ernest Rutherford awarded Nobel Prize for investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances.

1909
The first issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry is published (1909 - 1970; originally The J. of I&EC, 1909 - 1930).