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Verner Schomaker (1914-1997)

Verner Schomaker possessor of one of the most critical and wide-ranging scientific intellects of our time, died in Pasadena, CA on March 30, 1997 of pancreatic cancer. He was at once friendly, open, uncommonly generous and extremely bright. He was, to those who were privileged to work with him or otherwise benefit from his insights, simply without peer as a one-on-one teacher. He is best known for his contributions in electron and X-ray diffraction. His most important contribution in the early days of electron diffraction was to the development of techniques for the visual interpretation of the scattering of electrons by gas molecules. At least one of his papers became a "Citation Classic" in the Science Citation Index of 200 papers. A native of Nebraska, he earned a BS from that state's University in 1934 and a MS in 1935. He then moved to Pasadena, where Pauling quickly recognized his uncommon qualities. After receiving a PhD in 1938, he went up the academic ladder in Chemistry at Caltech (taking time out for war-time research from 1942 to 1945). He received the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry in 1949, and served as ACA President in 1961-62. In 1958 he left academic work to join the Union Carbide Research Inst. He joined the faculty of the Dept. of Chem. at the U. of Washington in Seattle, serving initially for 5 years as Chair, during an important time for faculty growth. He became Prof. Emeritus in 1984. After his retirement, he was also a Faculty Assoc. at Caltech, dividing his time about equally berween Pasadena and Seattle. His family has requested that donations in his memory be made to the Verner Schomaker Memorial Fund, c/o California Inst. of Tech., Office of Donor Relations, Mail Code 105-40, Pasadena, CA 91125. The fund will be used to support student research.

Kenneth Trueblood

ACA Newsletter, Summer 1997