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The Professorial Career of Clifford R. Haymaker: A Life of Chemistry Imagined and Bequeathed

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Daniel T. Haworth

Department of Chemistry, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881

John J. Eisch

Department of Chemistry, The State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6016

J. Chem. Educ., 2003, 80 (3), p 275

DOI: 10.1021/ed080p275

Publication Date (Web): March 1, 2003

Abstract

The professorial career of Clifford R. Haymaker (1907-1981), a longtime professor of organic chemistry at Marquette University, constitutes a most inspiring triumph of the human spirit over physical disabilities. Blind from birth, he was endowed with exceptional powers of imagination and analysis, and he excelled in both primary and secondary schools through the tutoring of his mother and the help of his sighted classmates and teachers. Despite his blindness, he embarked upon the study of chemistry at Marquette in 1925. Again with the aid of readers and sighted laboratory classmates he obtained the B.S. degree in 1929, the M.S. degree in 1933 and finally the Ph.D. degree in 1938 for the literature study, "The Chemistry of Atomic Nuclei". Beginning as instructor of organic chemistry in 1929 and retiring as professor of chemistry in 1973, Clifford Haymaker offered lectures on theoretical and experimental organic chemistry to countless undergraduate and graduate students with a clarity and vividness that were both greatly appreciated and admired. He was a great advocate of chemical research and inspired many students to undertake studies for advance degrees in chemistry or allied sciences. The authors of this article offer personal comments on how Clifford Haymaker has influenced their careers.