Overview
Administrative Information
Biography
Access Terms
Overview
Call Number: PC0156
Creator:
Bergstrom, Francis William, 1897-1946.
Title: Francis Bergstrom photographic slides
Dates: 1897-1946
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear feet
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Information about Access
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted
to a digital use copy.
Ownership & Copyright
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Cite As
[identification of item], Francis Bergstrom Photographic Slides (PC0156). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Biography
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, January 10, 1897, the boy Francis came to Stanford with his parents in 1908 when his father
was appointed Professor of Educational Psychology here. He attended the Palo Alto schools and then entered Stanford University
as a student in 1914, specializing in chemistry and allied engineering subjects. Receiving the Bachelor's degree in 1918,
he continued with graduate studies under the inspiration and guidance of the late Professor E. C. Franklin. As a result of
this work he was awarded the degrees of Engineer in Chemical Engineering in 1919 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1922. Then followed
three years of postdoctoral studies with the aid of a National Research Fellowship in Chemistry. This period was spent mainly
at Clark and Brown Universities, where the young Doctor Bergstrom collaborated with Professor Charles A. Kraus, who in turn
had been one of Professor Franklin's very first students at the University of Kansas.
In 1925 Bergstrom was appointed Instructor in the Chemistry Department of Stanford University. In the due course of time he
passed through the ranks of Assistant and Associate Professor and in 1942 he became a full Professor. He was thus directly
connected with the Stanford Chemistry Department as a student or a faculty member for a total of twenty-nine years. During
1934 he was honored by a Guggenheim Fellowship award for study in Europe and on this basis he spent about eight months abroad,
mainly at Oxford and Heidelberg.
Throughout his career Dr. Bergstrom was a most enthusiastic and industrious scientific investigator. He worked especially
with nitrogen compounds, both of the inorganic and organic types. His numerous researches were characterized by great experimental
skill, especially in glassblowing, and by clear and logical thinking. Approximately seventy scientific papers, published in
the most important scientific journals, attest to his outstanding research abilities. Largely as a result of these accomplishments
he was appointed as an associate editor of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, when this publication was started in 1936, and
he continued in this capacity until his death. During the period July 1, 1943 to January 1, 1946, he also served as the responsible
investigator and supervisor for an important project on antimalarial compounds, sponsored by the Committee on Medical Research
of the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
Francis William Bergstrom, Professor of Chemistry, died in the Stanford University Hospital on March 29, 1946, at the age
of forty-nine years. His death was caused by a brain tumor, which manifested its early symptoms during the preceding January
and which developed with amazing rapidity; his period of real illness was thus mercifully short. He was unmarried and the
only child of parents, now deceased, who in turn were only children; consequently he leaves no close relatives.
Access Terms
Slides.