Main content

Otto Theodor Benfey Papers

Notifications

Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Science History Institute Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
015
Repository:
Science History Institute Archives
Extent:
1.1 linear feet (3 boxes)
Language:
German, English, and French
Preferred Citation:
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Otto Theodor Benfey Papers, 1896-1992, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Date:
1896-1992 (inclusive) and 1944-1992 (bulk)
Creator:
Benfey, O. Theodor (Otto Theodor), 1925-
Form:
Archival materials
Abstract:
Notebooks and research files of German chemist and historian of science Otto Theodor Benfey.

Otto Theodor ("Ted") Benfey was a German chemist and historian of science. Born in Berlin, Germany on October 31, 1925, Benfey was sent to England by his family in 1936 to escape persecution by the Nazis. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry (1945) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry (1947) from the University College London. After receiving his Ph.D., he studied at Columbia University as a postdoctoral research fellow (1947-1948).

Benfey began his teaching career at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania (1948-1956), where he rose to the rank of associate professor of chemistry. In 1955-1956, he held a research fellowship at Harvard University. From 1956 through 1973, Benfey taught chemistry and the history of science at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. In 1973, he became the Dana Professor of the History of Science at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He retired from Guilford as emeritus professor in 1988.

In his retirement, Benfey held an editorial position at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (now called the Science History Institute) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1989-1996). During this period, he also taught at the University of Pennsylvania as an adjunct professor of history and sociology of science.

Benfey was the recipient of several awards over the course of his career, including the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Award (1970-1971) and the American Chemical Society's HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry (2019). He also travelled widely and was the author and editor of several books in his field, including Classics in the Theory of Chemical Combination (1963).

Sources

O. Theodor Benfey Oral History, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Otto Theodor Benfey Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"Ted Benfey Received HIST Award", C&EN, June 7, 2019 - https://cen.acs.org/acs-news/programs/Ted-Benfey-receives-HIST-Award/97/i23

The Otto Theodor Benfey Papers contain the notebooks and research files of German chemist and historian of science Otto Theodor Benfey. It contains materials from Benfey's careers as a student and chemist, as well as his working files from his later career as a historian of science. The collection is arranged into the following three series:

  1. Notebooks of O. T. Benfey
  2. Work on Mercury and Mercury Poisoning
  3. Research Files

The Otto Theodor Benfey Papers were donated to the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) by Otto Theodor Benfey in two accretions in October 2002.

The Otto Theodor Benfey Papers were processed by Andrew Mangravite in November 2017.

The Otto Theodor Benfey Autographed Letters Collection is preserved at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Robert B. Woodward Research File is preserved at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Subject
Occupation

Publisher
Science History Institute Archives
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid created by Andrew Mangravite and encoded into EAD by Kenton G. Jaehnig.
Finding Aid Date
2017
Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.

Use Restrictions

The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Otto Theodor Benfey Papers. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Collection Inventory

Series Description

Arranged in its original order, this series contains notebooks kept by Otto Theodor Benfey. Four of the notebooks were kept by Benfey as a student at the University College London. Two notebooks kept by Benfey as a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University are also found in this series. Two notebooks kept by Benfey as a research fellow at Harvard University are also preserved in this series. Three sheaves of notebook pages detailing a course in "Chemical Physics" taught at Cornell University by Nobel laureate Peter Debye are present here as well.

O.T. Benfey, University College, London. "Research on the Kinetics of Organic Reactions", (Cover labelled "Practical Chemistry"), 1944 September.
Box 1 Folder 1
O.T. Benfey, University College, London. "Kinetic Runs", 1945-1946.
Box 1 Folder 2
O.T. Benfey, University College, London. "Experimental Book I", 1945-1946.
Box 1 Folder 3
O.T. Benfey, University College, London. "Experimental Book II", (Bound with "Theory, etc." ("Theory of Ionic Strength Effect")), 1946, undated.
Box 1 Folder 4
O.T. Benfey, Columbia University, New York. Untitled Notebook, 1947.
Box 1 Folder 5
O.T. Benfey, Columbia University, New York. "Calculations", 1947.
Box 1 Folder 6
O.T. Benfey, Harvard University. "Physical Organic Chemistry" lecture notes for course taught by Frank Westheimer, Fall and Spring, 1955.
Box 1 Folder 7
O.T. Benfey, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. "Chemical Physics" lecture notes for course taught by Peter Debye, undated.
Box 1 Folder 8
O.T. Benfey, Harvard University - Notes on guest lectures attended by OTB - various topics, undated.
Box 1 Folder 9

Series Description

Arranged in their original order, this series consists of three files concerning Otto Theodor Benfey's research work on mercury and mercury poisoning, which he kept during his career as a chemist.

"Hg" - Background material on mercury poisoning and Minamata disease and antidotes, 1971-1986, undated.
Box 2 Folder 1
Spinach (As antidote to heavy metal poisoning.), 1971-1981, undated.
Box 2 Folder 2
Hg-BAL-Spinach - Various reprints, re: mercury antidotes, 1946-1980.
Box 2 Folder 3

Series Description

This series contains Otto Theodor Benfey's research files, which he kept during his career as a historian of science. The contents of the Research Files are arranged into the following two sub-series:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography Files
  2. Classics in the Theory of Chemical Combination Files
Sub-series Description

Otto Theodor Benfey wrote biographies of Lothar Meyer, Johannes Thiele, and Edward W. Washburn for the Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Arranged in its original order, this sub-series contains Benfey's research files for these articles.

Lothar Meyer (Includes P. Phillips Bedson's 1896 Memorial Lecture and Glenn T. Seaborg's "From Mendeleev to Mendelevium-and Beyond."), 1896-1969.
Box 2 Folder 4
General Note

See also Box 3 Folder 6-10.

Johannes Thiele (Early work on organic reaction mechanisms.), 1899-1970.
Box 2 Folder 5
Edward W. Washburn (Includes Washburn's work on "heavy water".), 1922-1992.
Box 2 Folder 6
Sub-series Description

Otto Theodor Benfey was the editor of Classics in the Theory of Chemical Combination, a collection of papers written by several prominent chemists of the nineteenth century. Published in 1963, the book included classic papers by Friedrich Wohler, Dmitri Mendeleev, Alexander Butlerov, Louis Pasteur, and Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff.

Arranged in its original order, this sub-series contains Benfey's research files for Classics in the Theory of Chemical Combination. The contents of the files consist of copies of the original papers used in the book.

Kane, Robert J. "Contributions to Chemical Science", The Dublin Journal of Medical and Chemical Knowledge, (Dublin: Hodges and Smith, p. 348-350), 1833, undated.
Box 3 Folder 1
Gerhardt, Charles. Two extracts from Traite de Chimie Organique, 1853, undated.
Box 3 Folder 2
Butlerow, A. "Ueber die Verwandtschaft der mehraffinen Atome", Denkschriften (Utsehenuja Sapiski) der Kasan'schen Universitat, 25 April 1862, undated.
Box 3 Folder 3
Butlerow, A. "Einiges uber die chemische Structur der Korper", Chemische Section der 36. Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Aerzte du Speyer am 19. September, 1862, undated.
Box 3 Folder 4
Pasteur, L. "Researches on the Molecular Dissymmetry of Natural Organic Products", trs. W.S.W. Ruschenberger, American Journal of Pharmacy, Vol. 34, p. 1-16, 97-112, January and March, 1862, undated.
Box 3 Folder 5
Meyer, Lothar. "Uber Einige Zersetzungen des Chlorathyls", Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie, Vol. 139, 1866, undated.
Box 3 Folder 6
Mendeleev, D.I. "Die Periodische Gestzmassigkeit der Chemischen Elemente", Liebig's Annalender Chemie und Pharmazie, Supplement 8, 1871, undated.
Box 3 Folder 7
Meyer, L., C.A. Wurtz, and D.I. Mendeleev. "Zur Geschichte der periodischen Atomistik,", Chemische Berichte, Vol. 13, 1880, undated.
Box 3 Folder 8
Meyer, Lothar. "Die Grundlagen der Thermochemie", Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie, Vol. 218, 1883, undated.
Box 3 Folder 9
Meyer, L. and K. Seubert. "Die Einheit der Atomgewichte", Chemische Berichte, Vol. 22, 1899, undated.
Box 3 Folder 10
Van't Hoff, J.H. "A Suggestion Looking to the Extension into Space of the Structural Formulas at Present Used in Chemistry", Utrecht, 1874 in Memoirs on Stereo-Chemistry, 1901, undated.
Box 3 Folder 11
LeBel, J.A. "A Note Upon the Relation Between Optical Activity and the Chemical Construction of Organic Compounds", Memoirs on Stereo-Chemistry, 1901, undated.
Box 3 Folder 12
Wohler, F. "On the Artificial Formation of Urea", in Readings in Organic Chemistry, L.A. Goldblatt, Ed., (New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1938, undated.
Box 3 Folder 13
Wheeler, T.S. Letter to the Editor, Proceedings of the Chemical Society, 221, 1959. (On William Higgins and chemical structures.), undated.
Box 3 Folder 14

Print, Suggest