Henry Frederick Schaeffer III Academic Family Tree

The following information is taken from The Chemical Geneology Data Base compiled by Vera V. Mainz and Gregory S. Girolami in 1998. I did took classes from and did undergraduate research with Henry F. Schaeffer III. His ab initio approach to theoretical chemistry has left lasting traces in my way of thinking.

Cooke, Josiah Parsons

Established Harvard chemistry department and introduced first laboratory instruction in an American university; measured atomic weights of Sb, H, and O; studied iodides of antimony; his ideas on the numerical relationships between atomic weights and the properties of the elements foreshadowed the periodic table; studied the crystallography of minerals, esp. vermiculite and the other silicates.

Footnote: Cooke attended Silliman's lectures at the age of 16, but received no formal education in chemistry. Shortly after he received his AB degree from Harvard and was appointed Professor of Chemistry, Cooke travelled to Europe to buy chemicals and equipement, and attended lectures given by Dumas and Regnault while in Paris. Although Cooke called Silliman "my only instructor in chemistry", he felt he learned much of his chemical philosophy in Europe.

Gucker, Frank Thompson

Determined accurate heat capacities, heats of dilutions, sound velocities, and densities of solutions; developed a more sensitive penetrometer for measuring the efficiency of gas masks, starting his interest in aerosols; developed a counter for single particles in aerosols, which could also automatically establish the particle size distribution; produced the first measurements of the light scattered by single aerosol droplets and compared the results with computations based on Mie theory.

O'Konski, Chester Thomas

Studied nuclear quadrupole spectroscopy, spectroscopic and electro-optical properties of macromolecules, molecular electronics structure, and hydrogen bonding; studied bonding in crystalline ammonia and inertial effects in rotational diffusion.

Richards, Theodore William

Nobel prize in 1915 for atomic weight determinations of Cu, O, Ba, Sr, Ca, Zn, Mg, Fe, Co, Ag, C, N, and Pb; found atomic weight of lead varied with source, thus confirming theory of isotopes; studied compressibilities and atomic volumes of elements; invented the adiabatic calorimeter and used it to measure many heats of dilution, combustion, dissolution, and neutralization; invented a nephelometer for measuring traces of solids suspended in liquids; investigated physical properties of amalgams.