Martin Ittner
{{short description|American chemist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Martin Hill Ittner
| image = Martin Hill Ittner 2003 900 741 kh04dq57q.tif
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1870|05|02}}
| birth_place = Berlin Heights, Ohio, USA
| death_date = {{death date and age|1945|04|22|1870|05|02}}
| death_place = Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
| residence =
| nationality = American
| field =
| known_for =
| work_institutions = Colgate-Palmolive
| alma_mater = Washington University in St. Louis
Harvard University
| doctoral_advisor =
| awards = Perkin Medal
| spouse =
}}
Martin Hill Ittner (May 2, 1870, in Berlin Heights, Ohio – April 22, 1945, in Jersey City, New Jersey) was a chemist working for Colgate, now known as Colgate-Palmolive. He is best known for his contributions to applied chemistry, including the development of toothpaste and detergent.{{cite news |title=DR. MARTIN ITTNER, CHEMIST, 74, DEAD; Aide of Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Since 1896 Had Been Honored Twice for Outstanding Work |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/04/24/archives/dr-martin-ittner-chemist-74-dead-aide-of-colgatepalmolivepeet-since.html |accessdate=23 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=April 24, 1945 |page=17}}{{cite news | url=http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=b182075935074768&size=largest | title=publication note | publisher=Oil & Soap | year=1941 | accessdate=January 2, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826022803/http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=b182075935074768&size=largest | archive-date=August 26, 2011 | url-status=dead }}
Academic qualifications
- Bachelor of Phil. from Washington University, 1892
- Bachelor of Science from Washington University, 1894
- Masters (1895) and PhD (1896) from Harvard University
- Honorary PhD from Colgate University, 1930
- Honorary L.L.D. from Washington University, 1938{{cite web |title=HONORARY DEGREES AWARDED BY WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (ALPHABETICAL |url=https://commencement.wustl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WashU-Honorary-Degrees-Alpha-171101.pdf |website=WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY |accessdate=23 April 2019}}
Major contributions
Ittner joined the Colgate Company in 1896 as its chief chemist.
He remained with the company after it became Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Company in 1928. He was one of the first U.S. chemists to develop methods for the hydrogenation of fatty oils. Among his achievements where the development of a washing soap made from petroleum hydrocarbons, and new processes to make soap and glycerol.{{cite web |title=Portrait of Martin Hill Ittner (1870-1945) |url=https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/c534fp96s |website=Science History Institute |accessdate=23 April 2019}}
Ittner developed the first applied chemistry research team at Colgate.{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r9Ni6_u0JEC&pg=PA160 | title=Encyclopedia of New Jersey | publisher=Rutgers University | year=2004 | author=edited by Maxine N. Lurie, Marc Mappen | isbn=9780813533254 | accessdate=January 3, 2011}} He developed this research lab throughout his whole working life. Work in the Colgate research lab fostered many developments in detergents with many of the patents being held in Martin Hill Ittner's name.{{cite book |last1=Corlett |first1=W. J. |title=The Economic Development of Detergents |date=1958 |publisher=Gerald Duckworth &. Co. |location=London |isbn=0715600974}}
Ittner served as chairman of the New York section of the American Chemical Society in 1922, and as chairman of the American Chemical Society's Committee on Industrial Alcohol. He successfully recommended that United States Congress legitimize the manufacture and use of alcohol for the chemical industry during Prohibition in the United States. He also served as president and as treasurer of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and as president of The Chemists' Club in New York.
Awards
Ittner received an honorary doctorate of science from Colgate University in 1930.
On June 7, 1938, Ittner gave a commencement speech on The Function of Technology in Modern Society at Washington University, where he was awarded an honorary degree.{{cite web |title=Commencement Speakers, 1905-1939 |url=https://libguides.wustl.edu/wustl-commencement/speakers |website=Washington University |accessdate=23 April 2019}}
In 1942 Ittner was awarded the Perkin Medal for applied chemistry in recognition of his contributions.{{cite web |title=Past Perkin Medalists |url=http://sci-america.org/site/?page_id=227 |website=SCI America |accessdate=25 July 2018 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201081843/http://sci-america.org/site/?page_id=227 |url-status=dead }}{{cite journal | title=PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN OIL CHEMISTS' SOCIETY: Report of the detergents committee | journal=Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society | volume= 3| pages=180 | number =6 |doi=10.1007/BF02635228 | author=Archibald Campbell | date=June 1926 | s2cid=100626069 }}
Patents
A listing of his patents includes:
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2164276 US2164276]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2501467 US2501467]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2357829 US2357829]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2403925 US2403925]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2139589 US2139589]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1509431 US1509431]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2474740 US2474740]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2435745 US2435745]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2130353 US2130353]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2319405 US2319405]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1367973 US1367973]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1271576 US1271576]
- [https://patents.google.com/patent/USRE22006 USRE22006]
Publications
- {{cite journal |last1=Ittner |first1=Martin Hill |title=Progress in the Soap Industry during the Last Fifty Years |journal=Industrial & Engineering Chemistry |date=September 1926 |volume=18 |issue=9 |pages=908–910 |doi=10.1021/ie50201a008 }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Colgate-Palmolive}}
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Category:People from Berlin Heights, Ohio
Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni