We have over the years since the Stieglitz lectures were first presented given much of the distinguished history of Dr. Julius Stieglitz’s life and career. What is always very clear is his most significant role in helping to establish the Chicago Section as one of the truly great sections of the American Chemical Society. The story will always deserve retelling, and I will try to do some of it, while bringing it up to date.

Dr. Julius Stieglitz (1867 – 1937) was a great teacher and a fine organic chemist with a major interest in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. During the early stages of his career, he worked for Parke Davis & Co. in Detroit as a toxicologist. He was born in Hoboken NJ. After attending private and public schools in New York during his early years, both he and his twin brother Leopold were sent to Germany for their higher education. Julius received his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Berlin in 1889.

Following a short period of study with Victor Meyer at Göttingen, he returned to the U.S. in 1890. In 1892, he came to the University of Chicago as a docent, lecturing without salary, his only compensation coming from student donations. In 1893 he was appointed an assistant professor, and moved up through the ranks to become professor of chemistry in 1905. He served as department chair from 1915 – 1933.

In 1933, he was named professor emeritus but continued to teach and serve in the department until his death in 1937. His last doctoral student was Herman Bloch, who went on to have a very distinguished career with UOP and served as Board Chair of the American Chemical Society 1973-75. Dr. Stieglitz was very active in ACS, serving as Chicago Section Chair in 1904, and ACS President in 1917. He helped to establish the Willard Gibbs Medal, and received the Gibbs Medal himself in 1923. He received honorary doctorates from Clark University (D.Sc.), the University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D.).

The first Stieglitz Lecture was given using funds dedicated in his memorial legacy in 1940. The lecture was presented alternatively by the University of Chicago Chemistry department and the Chicago Section in consecutive years until 1994. There was a pause in presentation from 1994 until 1999 until the funds built up to a level where they were sufficient to support a stipend of $1000 plus expenses for each year. We are pleased to present [in 2012, ed.] Prof. Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University– Raleigh as our Stieglitz Lecturer for 2012.