Edgar Fahs Smith

Edgar Fahs Smith (1854-1928) was an American chemist born in York, Pennsylvania, who combined pioneering work in electrochemistry and atomic weight determination with an enduring interest in the history of chemistry. He spent most of his career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched rare earth elements and tungsten, served as provost from 1911 to 1920, and was elected president of the American Chemical Society three times. Smith championed the teaching of chemistry's history and helped expand opportunities for women in the field, and he assembled a personal collection of roughly 3,000 books and 600 manuscripts on the history of chemistry that became the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection at Penn, later designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1898 and received the Priestley Medal in 1926.