
The Center for Oral History at the Science History Institute is dedicated to creating a collection of comprehensive, professionally edited interviews with remarkable figures in chemistry, chemical engineering, life sciences, and related fields. With interviews dating back to 1979, our oral histories offer unique insights into the history of science.
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Research Interview with Larry Bock
- 2014-Jun-10
Larry Bock grew up in Chappaqua, New York. His father was a stockbroker with Bear Stearns Companies and his mother was a professional chef. Bock attended Bowdoin College in Maine, where he majored in biochemistry. He…
- Interviewee Bock, Lawrence
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research Interview with Dennis Gillings
- 2014-Feb-20
Dennis Gillings was born in London, England near the end of World War II. His father was a wholesale fish merchant who fought in the D-Day invasion, while his mother was a homemaker and milliner. During his adolescence,…
- Interviewee Gillings, Dennis B., 1944-
- Interviewer Dick, Brian
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2 items
Research Interview with Charles Cooney
- 2013-Aug-14
Charles Cooney was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Upper Darby High School. Growing up, he would often play with electronics, inspired by his father who was a systems analyst for General Electric. After…
- Interviewee Cooney, Charles
- Interviewer Dick, Brian
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2 items
Research Interview with Annette Campbell-White
- 2013-Mar-27
Annette Campbell-White was born and raised in New Zealand, but due to her father’s job as a mining engineer, she attended university in South Africa. She studied engineering, but not seeing a career path in the…
- Interviewee Campbell-White, Annette
- Interviewer Lind, Brianna Rego
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2 items
Research Interview with Dennis Fenton
- 2013-Aug-05
Dennis Fenton was born and raised in Mineola on Long Island, New York. He attended Manhattan College in the Bronx and later received his PhD in microbiology from Rutgers University in 1977. Motivated by his father’s…
- Interviewee Fenton, Dennis
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research Interview with Robert Kamen
- 2014-Nov-10
Robert Kamen was born in Brooklyn, New York, but raised in Queens. His father was a stockbroker, and his mother was an author and homemaker. Kamen was interested in science from an early age, working in a lab cleaning…
- Interviewee Kamen, Robert
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research Interview with Peter Meldrum
- 2013-Oct-25
Peter Meldrum was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended the University of Utah, where he received his bachelor’s in chemical engineering. After graduating, Meldrum joined the army, where he was a lieutenant in the…
- Interviewee Meldrum, Peter
- Interviewer Lind, Brianna Rego
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2 items
Research Interview with Joseph Panetta
- 2015-Sep-01
Joseph Panetta was raised in Syracuse, New York, where he attended Le Moyne College for his undergraduate degree. While he originally wanted to attend medical school, he opted to join the work force instead and began…
- Interviewee Panetta, Joseph
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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6 items
Oral history interview with Martin Karplus
- 2015-Dec-09
- 2016-Mar-04
- 2016-May-25
Martin Karplus was born in Vienna, Austria, one of two sons. Karplus’ father was in banking; his mother was a dietician at the family’s Fango-Heilanstalt Clinic. During the Nazi occupation of Austria, the family moved…
- Interviewee Karplus, Martin, 1930-
- Interviewer Caruso, David J. (David Joseph), 1978-, Eardley-Pryor, Roger
- Subject Karplus, Martin, 1930-, Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory, Quadrupole moments, Harvard University, Biology, Nobel Prize winners, Bird watching, Molecular dynamics, Photography
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2 items
Oral history interview of the toxic substances control act from the perspective of Charles F. Lettow
- 2010-Apr-23
Charles F. Lettow grew up as a “Sputnik kid,” choosing to study chemical engineering as an undergraduate. He held one job in the chemical industry before serving in the U.S. Army; after his military service he moved…
- Interviewee Lettow, Charles F., 1941-
- Interviewer Roberts, Jody A., 1976-, Hardy, Kavita D.
- Subject Lettow, Charles F., 1941-, Chemicals--Law and legislation, Environmental policy, Environmental protection, Hazardous substances--Law and legislation, Toxic Substances Control Act (United States), United States. Environmental Protection Agency
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2 items
Research Interview with Alison Taunton-Rigby
- 2013-Jan-22
Alison Taunton-Rigby was born and educated in Great Britain. Her father was a scientist for the British government and her mother was a physiotherapist. She attended the University of Bristol for her undergraduate and…
- Interviewee Taunton-Rigby, Alison
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research interview with Andrew Barnes
- 2013-Jul-08
Andrew Barnes was born in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. His father was a chemical engineer at Abbott Laboratories, which inspired him to pursue a chemical engineering degree from Purdue University. While…
- Interviewee Barnes, Andrew, circa 1953-
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
- Subject Barnes, Andrew, circa 1953-
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2 items
Research Interview with Cam Garner
- 2012-Mar-19
Cam Garner grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His father was diagnosed with cancer when Garner was a child, and later died when he was seventeen years old. Garner struggled academically in grade school, though became…
- Interviewee Garner, Cam
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research Interview with Steve Duzan
- 2013-May-02
Steve Duzan was born in Oregon in 1941, though he and his family moved to Seattle, Washington when he was ten years old. He was raised by a single mother after the death of his father. His mother worked as the assistant…
- Interviewee Duzan, Steve
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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2 items
Research Interview with Peter Drake
- 2012-Nov-07
Peter Drake was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was the head of manufacturing for Beech Aircraft before he became one of the founders of McDonnell Aircraft. Drake attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine,…
- Interviewee Drake, Peter F.
- Interviewer Dick, Brian
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2 items
Research Interview with Carlo Croce
- 2013-Aug-12
Carlo Croce was born in Milan, Italy and studied medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome. While he initially came to the United States to do medicine at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, he ultimately worked…
- Interviewee Croce, Carlo
- Interviewer Dick, Brian
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3 items
Oral history interview with Thomas Wiggans
- 2015-Apr-27
Thomas Wiggans grew up in Fredonia, Kansas, a small town with just a few thousand residents. Both his grandfather and father ran a local drugstore, which Wiggans worked in during his adolescence. This led to Wiggans not…
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
- Interviewee Wiggans, Thomas
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2 items
Research Interview with Garren Bohlin
- 2012-Sep-25
Garren Bohlin was a partner at Arthur Anderson LLP in 1980, where he did general business consulting. He was contacted by Mirza Mehdi of the Genetics Institute, who worked with Gabriel Schmergel. Mehdi asked Bohlin if…
- Interviewee Bohlin, Garren
- Interviewer Jones, Mark, 1958-
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8 items
Oral history interview with Richard S. Stein
- 1987-Jun-17
Richard Stein starts this interview by reflecting on the New York City schools which provided a real stimulus, especially in mathematics and science, to him and his contemporaries. At Brooklyn Technical High School, he…
- Interviewee Stein, Richard S., 1925-
- Interviewer Bohning, James J.
- Subject Stein, Richard S., 1925-, Chemists, Dichroism, Postwar reconstruction, Polymers--Research, Chemistry--Research
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5 items
Oral history interview with Jean S. Kane
- 2012-Feb-27 – 2012-Feb-28
Jean S. Kane grew up mostly in Tenafly, New Jersey. Although her father was an accountant, Jean was the first in her family to attend college. She began at Keuka College, intending to get a nursing degree, but she…
- Interviewee Kane, Jean S.
- Interviewer Gross, Benjamin
- Subject Kane, Jean S., 1940-, Chemistry, Women in chemistry, Geological Survey (U.S.), Spectrum analysis, Standard Reference Materials Program (National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.)), International Organization for Standardization, Geochemistry, Analytical geochemistry, Standard reference materials, Women in science, Chemists, Women chemists
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5 items
Oral history interview with Philip E. Eaton
- 1997-Jan-22
Philip Eaton begins the interview with a description of his childhood, parents, and early education in Brooklyn, New York. At age seven, Eaton and his family relocated to Budd Lake, New Jersey, where he attended Roxbury…
- Interviewee Eaton, Philip E., 1936-
- Interviewer Traynham, James G.
- Sponsor Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation
- Subject Eaton, Philip E., 1936, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Eaton Associates, Chemists, Chlordecone, Organic compounds--Synthesis
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Oral history interview with Judith Summers-Gates
- 2017-Jan-20
- 2017-Feb-06
Judith Summers-Gates was born in Hazelton, Pennsylvania in 1958 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a registered nurse. Her father was a hardwood floor installer. She had a younger sister and…
- Interviewer Martucci, Jessica L., Berry, Lee Sullivan
- Interviewee Summers-Gates, Judith, 1958-
- Subject Women in science, People with disabilities, People with mental disabilities, Blind, People with visual disabilities, Drexel University, United States. Department of Defense, United States. Department of Agriculture, United States. Food and Drug Administration, Engineering, Breast--Radiography, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (United States), Paratransit services, Self-help device for people with disabilities, American Chemical Society, Chemists with disabilitites, Chemistry, Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
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15 items
Oral history interview with O. Theodor Benfey
- 1991-May-24
- 1991-Jun-05
O. Theodor Benfey begins the interview with a description of his childhood in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. He tells of his experiences in England, where he was a student during the war, and then his move…
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7 items
Oral history interview with David M. Hercules
- 2002-Mar-20
David M. Hercules begins his interview by discussing his childhood and education. He describes his youth in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and his childhood curiosity with science. When he was in high school, he continued to…
- Interviewee Hercules, David M.
- Interviewer Daemmrich, Arthur, Brock, David C.
- Subject Hercules, David M., Lehigh University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electron spectroscopy, University of Georgia, Business consultants, Catalysis, University of Pittsburgh, Mass spectrometry, Spectrum analysis, Chemical apparatus, Chemists
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Oral history interview with Michael R. Koelle
- 2003-Jan-06 – 2003-Jan-08
Michael R. Koelle was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico but was raised mainly in Seattle, Washington, the youngest of the family's three children. Both of his parents were German emigrants (his father as an infant, his…
- Interviewee Koelle, Michael R., 1964-
- Interviewer Van Benschoten, William
- Sponsor Pew Charitable Trusts
- Subject Koelle, Michael R., 1964-, Molecular biology, Medical scientists, Medicine--Research, Geneticists, G proteins, Proteins--Research, Neural transmission, Embryology