Moses Gomberg was an American chemist and professor at the University of Michigan.
Background
Gomberg was born on February 8, 1866, in Yelizavetgrad, Russian Empire (now Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), where his parents, George Gomberg and Marie Ethel (Resnikoff) Gomberg, possessed a small estate. Very little is known of the family except that there was a younger sister, Sonja. In 1884 Moses' father, an anti-Czarist, was accused of being involved in a political conspiracy and his property was confiscated. He fled to America, where he settled in Chicago. Members of his family either accompanied him or followed soon thereafter. Gomberg and his father, neither with a prior knowledge of English, supported themselves by menial work, partly in the Chicago stockyards.
Education
Gomberg had been a student in the Nicolau Gymnasium in Elisavetgrad from 1878 until his immigration to the United States. He managed to complete high school in Chicago, and in 1886 entered the University of Michigan, where he earned his expenses by janitorial work. After receiving the B. S. in 1890 he received an assistantship which enabled him to pursue graduate studies in organic chemistry. His major professor, Albert B. Prescott, who was frequently called upon by industrial firms as a consultant, assigned tasks of analyzing materials to Gomberg, which enabled him to reinforce his meager finances. This experience gave him a profound respect for careful analysis, since he sometimes had to serve as an expert witness in court cases. Gomberg earned his M. S. degree in 1892, the Ph. D. in 1894, his doctoral dissertation dealing with the chemistry of caffeine. He had honorary Sc. D. degrees from the University of Chicago (1929) and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (1932), and the LL. D. from the University of Michigan (1937).
Career
In 1893 Gomberg was appointed instructor in chemistry at Michigan. Except for several brief leaves of absence, he was associated with the university until his retirement in 1936. He was made assistant professor of organic chemistry in 1899 and full professor in 1904. From 1927 until retirement he served as chairman of the department, following two years as acting chairman. Accumulated savings enabled Gomberg to take a leave of absence in 1896-1897 for study in Germany. He spent two terms in Munich where he worked in the laboratory of Adolf von Baeyer on isonitramino- and nitrosoisobutyric acids. A third term was spent with Victor Meyer in Heidelberg, where he undertook the preparation of tetraphenylmethane (C6H5)4C. Although Meyer sought to dissuade him from this goal because well-established chemists had failed, Gomberg was successful in obtaining the compound. On returning to Michigan in the fall of 1897 he undertook the preparation of hexaphenylethane (C6H5)6C2, but was unsuccessful. Later, by utilizing apparatus of his own design, which enabled him to exclude air and to carry out the reaction in the presence of carbon dioxide, he was successful in obtaining what appeared to be the desired product. The announcement of the discovery of a stable free radical was received with skepticism by organic chemists and much of Gomberg's research effort during the rest of his life was aimed toward demonstrating the soundness of his interpretation and in gaining new knowledge of organic free radicals. He based his conclusion that the compound was a free radical on the fact that the reactivity was unusually great toward oxygen and halogens whereas hexaphenylethane should be unreactive. Others were not in agreement. Although the equilibrium hypothesis was in reasonable agreement with the experimental facts, there were a number of leading chemists who were unconvinced, and the subject of stable free radicals remained controversial for many years. Gomberg's equilibrium hypothesis received new support around 1910, when Wilhelm Schlenk in Munich prepared a series of ethanes combined with biphenyl and other groups more complicated than phenyl. During this period, Gomberg became uncertain regarding the identity of the so-called hexaphenylethane dimer and favored the Jacobson quinoid formula. However, he ultimately abandoned this formula in favor of the simple hexaphenylethane structure, despite existing chemical evidence favoring the Jacobson structure. Gomberg's choice found general support among organic chemists until 1968 when T. Nauta and his associates in Holland demonstrated the validity of the Jacobson structure on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance and ultraviolet spectral data. Such analytical techniques had not been available during Gomberg's lifetime. Despite Gomberg's failure to understand clearly the nature of the dimer, he was correct in recognizing the presence of free radicals in solution. He thereby opened up a fruitful field of chemistry, which would have extensive development later in the twentieth century. Not only did work continue on the multiaryl type of free radicals, which Gomberg and Schlenk had prepared, but evidence began to accumulate for transitory free radicals of very simple constitution. Fritz Paneth obtained evidence for free methyl radicals in 1929 in Berlin, and this work was extended by Francis O. Rice at Johns Hopkins University. These concepts, while resisted in many quarters at first, became widely utilized in both organic and inorganic chemistry after Gomberg's death. In addition to his work on organic free radicals, Gomberg carried out studies on the reducing action on organic compounds of magnesium-iodide mixture, the synthesis of certain dyes, the properties of the perchlorate radical, and the synthesis of biaryls (Gomberg reaction). During World War I he participated in gas warfare research directed by the U. S. Bureau of Mines. His work on the synthesis of ethylene chlorohydrin led to a commercial method for the preparation of this compound, an intermediate in the manufacture of mustard gas. Although he was opposed in principle to gas warfare, he entered into the research because he deplored the prospect of a German victory. Later during the war he became a major in the Ordnance Department, where he served as an advisor on the manufacture of high explosives and smokeless powder. Gomberg's life was centered on chemistry. His phenomenal memory enabled him to retain much of what he read. He recommended such studies to his graduate students. Contrary to the practice of many leading organic chemists he discouraged night work in the laboratory, insisting that the evenings were more appropriately used for reading. Following his retirement in 1936 he failed to pursue plans for research and travel because of a decline in his health and that of his sister. He died of a heart ailment in Ann Arbor on February 12, 1947.
Achievements
Membership
Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (1914), president of the American Chemical Society (1931)
Personality
Gomberg was a highly reserved person, with great sensitivity and much personal charm. Despite a slight accent, he spoke English with clarity; his lectures were characterized by remarkable organization and vivid presentation. A man of average height and build, he was remembered for his soft-spoken firmness, his courtly manners, and his concentration on the business at hand.
Quotes from others about the person
One of his last graduate students, John Bailar, characterized Gomberg as "extremely interesting as an individual - brilliant, yet modest; shy, yet friendly; famous, yet humble. "
Connections
Gomberg never married, living with his sister Sophia in Ann Arbor for his adult life.