Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Herbert D. Kaesz papers
- Dates:
- 1955-2005
- Abstract:
- Herbert D. Kaesz was a professor of chemistry in UCLA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1959, and joined UCLA's Inorganic Chemistry unit within the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department in 1960, where he researched the synthesis and applications of organometallic compounds. The collection consists of materials related to his teaching career and research at UCLA. The papers include materials on grant and research project proposals, nomenclature and symbols, scientific societies and related publications, conferences, meeting minutes and agendas, professional and personal correspondence, a PhD dissertation, lab notebooks, and photographs.
- Extent:
- 2.8 linear feet (7 boxes)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Herbert D. Kaesz Papers (Collection 2349). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of materials related to the teaching career and research of UCLA Chemistry Professor Emeritus Herbert D. Kaesz. The papers include materials on grant and research project proposals, nomenclature and symbols, scientific societies and related publications, conferences, meeting minutes and agendas, professional and personal correspondence, Kaesz's PhD dissertation, lab notebooks, and photographs.
The acronyms used include:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry (CNIC)
- International Activities Committee (IAC)
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society (SCALACS)
- U.S. National Committee (USNC)
- Biographical / historical:
-
Herbert D. Kaesz was a professor of chemistry in UCLA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He was born on January 4, 1933, in Alexandria, Egypt, to Austrian parents. After receiving an undergraduate degree from New York University, he studied at Harvard University, where he met his wife Joan. He received his PhD in 1959. Kaesz joined UCLA's faculty in the Inorganic Chemistry unit in 1960, where he researched the synthesis and applications of organometallic compounds.
Kaesz was a pioneer in the development of pyrolytic and photolytic methods of metal film deposition and electronic applications, as well as in the development of metal cluster and hydrido metal complexes. Less than a year after he joined UCLA, his research group reported the first technetium carbonyl compounds. His research group also developed methods for making thin films from transition metals for use in microelectronic devices, which they patented.
Throughout his life he remained active in the field, serving as president of the Inorganic Synthesis Organization, associate editor of the ACS journal Inorganic Chemistry for more than 30 years, chair of the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry, and chair of IUPAC's Commission on the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry. He was also president of the Inorganic Syntheses Organization, which published the Inorganic Syntheses tract series. Kaesz received many awards for his work, including the Tolman Medal in 1980 and the ACS Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry in 1998, among others. After retiring in 2003, he remained an active professor emeritus and designed a Fiat Lux seminar for non-chemistry majors. The Fiat Lux freshmen seminar program offers undergraduate student that opportunity to engage in discussion on a variety of topics. He died of cancer at the age of 79 on February 26, 2012, in Los Angeles.
- Acquisition information:
- Susan Kaesz; gift; 2013.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Krystell Jimenez under the supervision of Angel Diaz, 2017.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.
- Arrangement:
-
Kaesz's original order has been maintained. File titles are taken from the original folder labels.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Sponsor:
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-06-06 15:09:10 -0700 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Herbert D. Kaesz Papers (Collection 2349). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988