Call Number:

019.001

Repository:

Science History Institute Archives

Extent:

1.5 linear feet (2 book boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Item Description, Box Number, Book Number, Eugene G. Kovach Student Notebooks, 1946-1949, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1946-1949 (inclusive)

Creator:

Kovach, Eugene G.

Form:

Archival materials and Notebooks

Abstract:

Four bound notebooks created by American organic chemist and science administrator Eugene G. Kovach. The notebooks were created by Kovach as a graduate student at Harvard University's Chemistry Department, in which he recorded lectures given by American organic chemist and Nobel Prize winner Robert Burns Woodward.

Eugene G. Kovach (1922-2021) was an American organic chemist and science administrator. Born in Irvington, New Jersey on May 18, 1922, Kovach grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He earned his B.S degree in Chemistry and his M.S. degree in Chemistry from Wayne University (now called Wayne State University). Kovach served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, during which he was assigned to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Kovach resumed his education after the war, earning his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University (1950). At Harvard, he studied under American organic chemist and 1965 Nobel Prize winner Robert Burns Woodward. After receiving his Ph.D., he taught chemistry and conducted chemical research at Colby College, the University of Florida, and Georgetown University. Kovach also retained an officer commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve. From 1954 to 1957, he served as Science Advisor with the U.S. Naval Forces Germany.

Kovach entered civilian U.S. government service in 1957, holding positions with the National Science Foundation's Division of Policy Research (1957-1959) and the U.S. Department of State (1959-1970). He accepted his second overseas assignment in 1970, serving a stint as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Deputy Assistant Secretary for General Science Affairs in Brussels, Belgium (1970-1976). After returning to the United States in 1976, he held positions at the National Science Foundation's Division of Policy Research (1976-1978) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (1978-1982). Kovach retired from U.S. government service in 1982. He continued to work temporary assignments for the U.S. Department of State until the early 1990s.

Eugene G. Kovach passed away on January 3, 2021.

Sources

Eugene G. Kovach Student Notebooks, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"Eugene George Kovach, 1922-2021." https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/skagitvalleyherald/name/eugene-kovach-obituary?id=12687971.

"Oral History Interview with Eugene G. Kovach, 2001 June 28 and 29." - Online Library Catalog Record - American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives.

Arranged in its original order, this collection consists of four bound notebooks created by American organic chemist and science administrator Eugene G. Kovach. At the time of their creation, Kovach was a graduate student at Harvard University's Chemistry Department and was studying under American organic chemist and 1965 Nobel Prize winner Robert Burns Woodward. In these notebooks, Kovach recorded several lectures given by Woodward at Harvard between 1946 and 1949. Subjects discussed by Woodward in these lectures include molecular structure of organic products, penicillin, and santonin.