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Correspondence on Wiswesser Line Notation Compiled by William B. Thompson
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Held at: Lehigh University Special Collections [Contact Us]Lehigh University, Linderman Library, 30 Library Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18045
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Lehigh University Special Collections. 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
WLN was invented by Lehigh Chemistry professor Wiswesser in 1949 enabling chemistry professionals to describe complex chemical structures precisely. William Thompson and other scientific information professionals used WLN and collaborated on prjects. This collection contains sample documents of scholarly communication. William Thompson, donor of the collection, graduated from Harpur College in 1959. He took graduate level information science courses at Lehigh University and worked for GAF Corp.(General Aniline Film Corp., Binghamton NY and Easton PA). As of 2019, Thompson lives in Brenigsville PA.
Collection of letters, papers and paper proposals by chemistry and computer programming professionals from various countries on using Wiswesser Line Notation in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, 1965-1969. Some of the letters are written on "aeromail" specially printed stationaries as samples of artefacts of communication history. William Thompson and other scientific information professionals used WLN and collaborated on prjects. This collection contains sample documents of scholarly communication.
Collection arranged chronologically.
Donated by William Thompson, September 6, 2019
People
Organization
Subject
- Chemistry -- Notations
- Chemistry, Technical -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions
- Computer programmers
- Electronic data processing
Occupation
- Publisher
- Lehigh University Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Eleanor Nothelfer.
- Sponsor
- Lehigh University Library and Technology Services.
- Access Restrictions
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Access Restrictions: Collection housed remotely. Users need to contact 24 hours in advance.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
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Please inquire about copyright information.
Collection Inventory
June 13, 1967 "What is a "Connectivity Table"?" June 15, 1967 from Bill to Wm B. Thompson re: return shipment of selected
Notation cards from Binghamton, New York June 29, 1967 from William Thompson I.S. 481 [Master's thesis proposal]
July 11, 1967 from GAF [General Aniline & Film Corp] re: R. Narasimhan report July 19, 1967 from Wm. Thompson to Lucille Thomson re: Bill Wiswesser and
Robert Taylor, thesis supervisor encourages visit July 28, 1967 "Computerization of Organic Structures" by L. Thomson [with
diagramming and Charting Worksheet]
September 11, 1967 from 33rd Conf. of FID and International Congress on
Documentation to W. B. Thompson, F. R. Whaley, A. C. Starke, E. C. Carson
Re: Japan Information Center of Science and Technology Document
Storage: "Administrative Information for Technical Proposal for Computer
Program for Chemical Structures Part A.," Technical Proposal for Computer
Program for Chemical Structures, Part B" September 14, 1967 [2nd letter re: above] September 20, 1967 from Univ. of Illinois to Central Research Laboratory September 21, 1967 "Keyboarding Chemical Information" by R. G. Hefner, P.M.
Keesecker and D. F. Rule presented at National Meeting of American
Chemical Society November 8, 1967 from Univ. of Sheffield to W. B. Thompson re: Kurt Ofer of
Haifa generation of Wiswesser line notations from connection tables
January 31, 1968 from Bill Wiswesser to Matthew Hutton re: discussion with
Jack Hayes and vastly improved "Recognition" clarity using full-character
Set of ASCII/360 punctuations vs. present three for polycyclic notation February 1, 1968 "A Study of Mechanical Translation from WLN to Connection
Table" by S. Kulpinski, N. London, D. Lefkovitz, A. Gennaro, presented at the
Symposium on Automation of Information Operations, Philadelphia, Pa. February 6, 1968 from Bill Thompson to W. J. Wiswesser re: printer that can't
Print characters that Wiswesser wants February 10, 1968 from Bill [Wiswesser?] to William Thompson re: "expanded
Character" notation research
April 1968 "GAF Document Storage and Retrieval System" by A. C. Starke, F. R.
Whaley, E. C. Carson and W. B. Thompson, American Documentation, Vol. 19, No. 2, p. 173-180 April 1968 "Formal Evaluation of a Simple Chemical Cipher System" by James
Munz, Univ. of Pennsylvania Analysis of Chemical Notations Project August 1968 "107 Years of Line-Formula Notations (1861-1968)" by William J.
Wiswesser, Journal of Chemical Documentation, Vol. 8, p. 146-149 November 15, 1968 from Wm J. Wiswesser to Member of Chemical Notation
Assn re: Membership applications December 17, 1968 from Jack E. Byk to William Thompson re: Dr. Rogers of
Imperial Chemical Company visit to United States
January 3, 1969 from William B. Thompson to Jack E. Byk re: letter of Dec. 17
- work referred to by Dr. Rogers is a thesis in Information Science at
Lehigh January 27, 1969 from Bill Thompson to Lucille [Thomson] re: meeting Fred
Matthews and Dr. Rogers February 11, 1969 from Wm J. Wiswesser to William B. Thompson re: coding
Thesis in IBM D-level Subset of PH/1; "The Empty Column" March 21, 1969 from Bill Thompson to Dr. Robert Barnes re: linear structures and
Branched structures
May 1969 Journal of Chemical Documentation, Vo. 9, No. 2, p. 121 "Connection
Table Compatibility" July 30, 1969 from Ron Gottardi to W. Thompson re: computerized handling of
Chemical structures "octobliques" [3 page letter of explanation];
"Computerization of Organic Structures"
CWIK LIST NEWS Mr. W. B. Thompson [black Accopress binder] October 1957 to May-June 1972 [incomplete]; Wiswesser Line Notation (WLN) + Dot Plot = Wiswesser – Hyde (W. H.)
Newsletter that was published and distributed by Wiswesser from his home in Reading (Pa.)
1954. Wiswesser, William J. "A Line-Formula Chemical Notation." New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company [2 copies].
Library owns multiple copies in multiple locations: 540.14 W818L