That Gomberg's discovery triumphed in the face of great odds is no surprise, given his personal history.
Moses Gomberg was born in 1866 in Elizabetgrad, Russia, a town south of Kiev now known as Kirovograd, Ukraine. Because the family was Jewish, it received harsh treatment after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. In 1884, the government accused Gomberg's father of anti-tsarist activities and confiscated the family estate. The 18-year-old Gomberg also fell under suspicion.
The family fled to the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois. There, young Moses followed the classic immigrant path to success. Speaking no English, he worked at odd jobs, most involving menial labor. He toiled in the Chicago stockyards under the brutal conditions described in Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle.
Through sheer force of will and brainpower, Gomberg learned English, completed his secondary education, and in 1886 entered the University of Michigan. He tried to enroll in a beginning course in physics, but the department head turned him down because he had no formal training in trigonometry. Three days later, Gomberg tried again. When the department again rejected him for the same reason, he insisted he knew the subject. The department head quizzed him, and was stunned to find that what Gomberg claimed was true.
Gomberg completed his studies, received his Ph.D., and embarked on the research that was to lead to his groundbreaking discovery.
The American Chemical Society started the landmarks program in 1992 for two closely related reasons: to commemorate and preserve landmarks in the history of chemistry, and to heighten public awareness of the key role chemistry has played in the history of the United States and nations around the world. More than 30 p
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Contact: Hillarie Fogel
h_fogel@acs.org
202-872-4371
American Chemical Society
1-Jun-2000