Legends Symposium

The ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) will host a special symposium at the upcoming ACS national meeting in Philadelphia. The two-day symposium will be held on Aug. 18–19 and is entitled "Legends of Environmental Chemistry: A Symposium of Invited Speakers."

According to symposium co-organizer Victor Turoski, ENVR treasurer, the symposium's purpose is to recognize, honor, and learn from 15 speakers whose work throughout the years has significantly impacted and influenced current thinking and practices in the field of environmental chemistry and science. "There is an urgent need to record for posterity, and for educational purposes, the thoughts and actions of these important individuals on the specific contributions they have made to modern environmental chemistry. This symposium will be a spoken history of landmark events in environmental chemistry by the individual chemists who made them," he says.

Organizers plan to videotape the symposium, convert it for distribution on the Web, and house it at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF). "We will establish links to the CHF from websites of the American Chemical Society and the Divisions of Environmental Chemistry and the History of Chemistry," Turoski says.