The Catalyst Review (September 2016) - 1

MEDIA REVIEW

The views expressed are those of the individual author and may not reflect those of The Catalyst Review or TCGR

History of Catalysis: A Review of the
NACS Website and YouTube

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton (1676).
Catalysis has a long, fascinating, and important history, and an incredibly bright future. To envision and create this bright future,
we figuratively need to "stand on the shoulders of giants" of catalysis. Who are the giants of catalysis? What did they do, when and
where? In what directions and at what rate did the field advance? How did it evolve from an art into a science? How has catalysis
impacted industry, the environment, and society? To know where catalysis is headed, it helps to know where it has been and how
it got here. The North American Catalysis Society (NACS, http://nacatsoc.org) and YouTube have some online resources about the
history of catalysis, which are reviewed here.
The NACS was founded in 1956 and publishes a newsletter, organizes events, presents awards, coordinates with other domestic and
foreign catalysis societies, and more. NACS History Videos http://nacatsoc.org/category/history/videos/ hosts 16 videos consisting
of 10 interviews (John Bailor, Robert Burwell, John Butt, Adalbert Farkas, Robert Garten, Ricardo Levy, Donald Nace, Edward Teller,
Haldor Topsoe, and John Turkevich) and six presentations from the NACS 20th North American Meeting (NAM) in Houston in 2007.
Including similar videos of presentations at other meetings would be useful.
NACS Biographies http://nacatsoc.org/category/history/biographies/ provides biographies of nine catalytic scientists: Michel
Boudart, Robert L. Burwell, Jr., W. Keith Hall, Heinz Heinemann, Vladimir N. Ipatieff, Almer McAfee, Herman Pines, Sir Eric Rideal, and
John Sinfelt.
The website www.video-history-catalysis.org established in 2015 hosts videos of interviews and lectures at scientific meetings (e.g.,
ACS, AIChE, ICC, NACS, etc.), mostly during 1960-2000. The latest video is from the 219th ACS Meeting in San Francisco in 2000
www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_history-1_041.htm. The most recent entry www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_
history-1_042.htm consists of a few group photos taken at the Catalysis Gordon Conference (Colby Sawyer College, NH, June 2016),
but without any video presentations. There are no videos between 2001 and 2016, a gap that needs to be filled.
Interviews with Historical Catalysis Figures www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_history-1_009.htm consists of 11 videos of
interviews with eight experts from both academia and industry: Carroll O. Bennett, Michel Boudart, Ted Cornelius, Suzanne Harris,
George Lester, Jack Lunsford, Hermann Pines, and Roel Prins.
Burt Davis' Introduction to Video History of Catalysis on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJ3o7FVmJojw5rPEF3XSLA
indicates that Burt Davis has videotaped more than 1300 presentations since 1986. Featured catalysis experts include Michel
Boudart, Robert Burwell, F. G. Ciapetta, Paul Emmett, Eugene Houdry, Richard Kokes, and Irving Wender. Burt Davis' History of
Catalysis web site http://crtc.caer.uky.edu/history.htm includes "50 Years of Catalysis, One Year at a Time" (http://crtc.caer.uky.edu/
text.htm), spanning 1949-1999. Bringing this history up-to-date would be desirable.
The history of catalysis information is scattered over multiple web sites-NACS, CAER, YouTube, etc. Locating them all in one central
place-preferably YouTube-would be more efficient and easier to use. YouTube is easily accessible, searchable, widely used, well
maintained, and already has many catalysis-related videos.
These videos and web sites feature mostly men based in North America and Western Europe. Hundreds of other people elsewhere
have made important contributions to catalysis and deserve recognition.
The History of Catalysis archive by Burt Davis and the NACS allows us to build on the intellectual foundation laid by our predecessors
without reinventing the wheel. It helps with prior art searches for patentability. It is a fitting tribute to the pioneers and trailblazers
of catalysis and a source of inspiration to current and future catalytic scientists, enabling them to "see further by standing on the
shoulders of giants."
About the Reviewer
Dr. Sorab R. Vatcha is a consultant and author in catalysis, chemicals, energy, and environmentally sustainable
("green") products and technologies. His career in consulting, industry, and academia spans four decades. He
has contributed to The Catalyst Review and the Catalytic Advances Program (CAP) of TCG/TCGR. He has an SM
in management of technology from MIT and a PhD in chemical engineering from Caltech. He is a Registered
Professional Engineer (PE), a member of several professional societies, and the author of numerous publications
and presentations.
The Catalyst Review

September 2016

http://www.nacatsoc.org http://www.nacatsoc.org/category/history/videos/ http://www.nacatsoc.org/category/history/biographies/ http://www.video-history-catalysis.org http://www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_history-1_041.htm http://www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_ http://www.video-history-catalysis.org/nacs_video_history-1_009.htm https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJ3o7FVmJojw5rPEF3XSLA http://crtc.caer.uky.edu/history.htm http://crtc.caer.uky.edu/text.htm

The Catalyst Review (September 2016)

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