George A. Olah
The information listed below is current as of the date the transcript was finalized.
Interview Details
Interview Sessions
Abstract of Interview
George A. Olah begins the interview with a description of his family and childhood years in Budapest, Hungary. Olah first developed an interest in chemistry after taking a chemistry course at the Technical University of Budapest. While a laboratory assistant at the Zemplen Institute, Olah received his first patent on digoxin under the mentorship of Geza Zemplen, a carbohydrate chemist and former student of Hermann Emil Fischer. With Zemplen's approval, Olah began his work on organofluorine compounds. In 1949, Olah received his PhD in organic chemistry from Technical University. That same year, he married Judith Lengyel. Olah joined the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1954 as the head of the department of organic chemistry and associate scientific director of the Central Research Institute. During a momentary collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1956, Olah, his wife, and young son fled Hungary to take refuge with family members in London, England. Finally settling in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1957, Olah became a senior research scientist at the Sarnia laboratory of Dow Chemical Company. Impressed by the work of Christopher Kelk Ingold, Olah turned his research towards Friedel-Crafts reactions, alkylations, and nitrations. After moving to a Dow facility in Massachusetts, Olah was offered the position of professor and chemistry department chair at Western Reserve University. Shortly after starting at Western Reserve, Olah aided in the coalescence of Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology, which now form Case Western Reserve University. Following twelve years of service at Case Western, Olah decided that he wanted to apply his chemistry to the broader area of hydrocarbons, so he accepted an offer from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles as a professor of chemistry and scientific director of the Hydrocarbon Research Institute, which was later named Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. Olah is currently the director of this institute. Olah concludes the interview with a discussion of the future of environmental chemistry, reflections on winning the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry, and thoughts on his family.
Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Technical University of Budapest | BS | Organic Chemistry |
| 1949 | Technical University of Budapest | PhD | Organic Chemistry |
Professional Experience
Technical University of Budapest
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Dow Chemical Company
Case Western Reserve University
University of Southern California
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1964 | Award in Petroleum Chemistry, American Chemical Society |
| 1967 | Leo H. Baekeland Award |
| 1970 | Morley Medal |
| 1972 | Fellow, J. S. Guggenheim Foundation |
| 1976 | Member, U. S. National Academy of Sciences |
| 1979 | Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, American Chemical Society |
| 1979 | Alexander von Humbolt-Stiftung Award for Senior U. S. Scientist |
| 1987 | Michelson-Morley Award, Case Western Reserve University |
| 1988 | Fellow, J. S. Guggenheim Foundation |
| 1989 | California Scientist of the Year Award |
| 1989 | Roger Adams Award in Organic Chemistry, American Chemical Society |
| 1990 | Honorary Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
| 1992 | Richard C. Tolman Award, American Chemical Society, Southern California Section |
| 1993 | Chemical Pioneers Award, American Institute of Chemists, Inc. |
| 1993 | William Lloyd Evans Award, Ohio State University |
| 1994 | Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| 1995 | George Washington Award, American Hungarian Foundation |
| 1996 | Cotton Medal, American Chemical Society, Texas A&M University |
| 1996 | Kapista Medal, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences |
| 1996 | Inventor of the Year Award, New York Intellectual Property Lawyers Association |
| 1996 | Award in Petroleum Chemistry renamed George A. Olah Award in Petroleum Chemistry, American Chemical Society |
| 1996 | Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement |
| 1997 | State Prize of the Republic of Hungary for Contributions to the Fame of Hungary |
| 1999 | Golden Medal of Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| 1999 | Hanus Medal, Czechoslovak Chemical Society |
| 2000 | Cope Award, American Chemical Society |
Table of Contents
Growing up in Budapest, Hungary. Effect of World War I. Piarist Brothers. Living next to the Budapest Opera House. Interest in philosophy and Hungarian history.
Organic chemistry at Technical University of Budapest. Love of chemistry. Effect of World War II. Death of brother in Russian prisoner camp. Mentorship of Geza Zemplen while at the Zemplen Institute. Hermann Emil Fischer. Work on glycosides. Leo Szilard. Balcony laboratory. Meeting and marriage to wife, Judith Lengyel.
Working at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Effect of World War II. Fleeing Hungary. London, England. Christopher Kelk Ingold. IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) lecture. Being a refugee. Lecture at Cambridge University. Ingold's and Alexander Todd's assistance in finding employment. Work of Ame Pictet. Move to Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada laboratory. Scientific contributions. Reflections on relationship with wife and years in Hungary. Thoughts on religion. Move to Sarnia. Herbert (Ted) D. Doan. 1964 American Chemical Society (ACS) prize in petroleum chemistry. Writing of Friedel-Crafts Chemistry. Fred McLarrety. George Wittig. Impression of Dow. Reflections on years before leaving Hungary. Disbelief in innate scientific ability. Carbocation and superacid chemistry. James B. Conant. Non-classical ion controversy. Move to Dow facility in Massachusetts.
Coalescence of Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology. Opinion on being a university professor and administrator. Development of new reactions and reagents. Writing as a favorite pastime. Decision to leave Case Western.
Creation of Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker. Superacids. Use of gasoline alkylation during World War II. Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff and Herman Pines. Hydrogen fluoride research. Importance of finding chemical solutions to environmental problems. Current research on electrophilic and nucleophilic solvation.
The significance of finding new non-natural fuel sources. The future of environmental chemistry using hydrocarbons. Value of teaching chemistry to non-science majors. Correcting environmental problems with chemical solutions. Receiving the 1994 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Making the world a safer place for his sons and grandchildren.
About the Interviewer
Arnold Thackray founded the Chemical Heritage Foundation and served the organization as president for 25 years. He is currently CHF’s chancellor. Thackray received MA and PhD degrees in history of science from Cambridge University. He has held appointments at Cambridge, Oxford University, and Harvard University, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In 1983 Thackray received the Dexter Award from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions to the history of chemistry. He served for more than a quarter century on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the founding chairman of the Department of History and Sociology of Science and is currently the Joseph Priestley Professor Emeritus.
James G. Traynham is a professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Northwestern University. He joined Louisiana State University in 1953 and served as chemistry department chairperson from 1968 to 1973. He was chairman of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1988 and is currently councilor of the Baton Rouge section of the American Chemical Society. He was a member of the American Chemical Society’s Joint-Board Council on Chemistry and Public Affairs, as well as a member of the Society’s Committees on Science, Chemical Education, and Organic Chemistry Nomenclature. He has written over 90 publications, including a book on organic nomenclature and a book on the history of organic chemistry.