The ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program was launched by the American Chemical Society in 1992 and has recognized 60 landmarks to date. The project is part of the ACS Division of the History of Chemistry and has the aim of compiling "an annotated roster for chemists and chemical engineers, students, educators, historians, and travelers."
Houdry process for the selective conversion or catalytic cracking of crude petroleum to gasoline
Kem-Tone® water based or latex paint developed by Sherwin-Williams chemists
Williams-Miles History of Chemistry Collection housed at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas
1997
Hall-Héroult process for the industrial porduction of aluminum by electrochemistry discovered in 1886 was demonstrated by American chemist Charles Martin Hall and independently in the same year by French chemist Paul Héroult
First electrolytic production of bromine by Herbert Henry Dow at the Evens Mill in Midland, Michigan
Gilman Hall at the University of California, Berkeley
Radiation chemistry commercialized
1998
Commercial processes for making calcium carbide and acetylene accidentally discovered in 1892 by Thomas Willson
Physostigmine (used for the treatment of glaucoma) synthesis first accomplish at the Minshall Laboratory, DePauw University by African American chemist Percy L. Julian
Progesterone synthesis from a Mexican yam developed by Russell Marker in a process known as Marker degradation and Mexican steroid industry
Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection at The University of Pennsylvania
The discovery of helium in natural gas by Hamilton Cady and David Ford McFarland while working in Bailey Hall at The University of Kansas on a sample from a gas well in Dexter, Kansas in 1905
Isolation of organic free radicals by University of Michigan chemist Moses Gomberg in 1900
Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory founded by Georgia chemist Charles H. Herty, Sr. who discovered a method to make quality paper from southern pine trees in 1932
National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST)
The commercialization of aluminum by the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (Aluminum Company of America) in 1888 that used the elctrochemical process discovered by Charles Martin Hall
African-American engineer Norbert Rillieux inventor of the multiple-effect evaporator (1934) and a revolution in sugar processing giving better quality with less manpower and at reduced cost
Hungarian chemist Albert Szent-Györgyi and the discovery of Vitamin C which he proved was identical to that hexuronic acid that could be extracted in kilogram quantities from paprika
Noyes Laboratory: One Hundred Years of Chemistry
Alice Hamilton and the development of occupational medicine that helped make the American workplace less dangerous
Quality and stability of frozen foods made possible by the research of the Western Regional Research Center after World War II that investigated how time and temperature affected their stability and quality
2003
The discovery of the life-saving anticancer agents Camptothecin (1966) and Taxol® (1971) obtained from the Chinese Camptotheca acuminata and the Pacific yew tree respectively at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) by the research team of Monroe Wall, Mansukh C. Wani, and colleagues
The Polymer Research Institute at the Polytechnic University of New York established in 1946 by Herman Mark was the first academic facility in the United States devoted to the study and teaching of polymer science
The Beckman pH meter developed by Arnold Orville Beckman while a member of the faculty of the California Institute of Technology was the first commercially successful electronic pH meter
The evolution of durable press and flame retardant cotton by the Southern Regional Research Center that made cotton more competitive with synthetic fabrics
George Washington Carver who despite being born into slavery went on to join the faculty of Tuskegee Institute in 1896 where he developed new products including peanuts, sweet potatoes and researched crop rotation and the restoration of soil fertility
Selman Waksman who isolated antibiotics produced by actinomycetes including streptomycin which was the first effective pharmaceutical treatment for tuberculosis, cholera, and typhoid fever and neomycin used as a topical antibacterial agent
The development of the columbia dry cellbattery the first sealed dry cell battery successfully manufactured for the mass market by the National Carbon Company (predecessor of Energizer) in 1896
Rumford baking powder, developed in the mid-19th century by the Harvard University Benjamin Thompson Professor Eben Horsford by adding calcium acid phosphate, made baking easier, quicker, and more reliable
The development of Tide®, the first heavy-duty synthetic laundry detergent, developed by Procter & Gamble chemists working at the Ivorydale Technical Center in 1946 by adding the "builder" sodium tripolyphosphate
