Malcolm Renfrew grew up in the Northwest. Despite an early interest in music, drama and the arts, Renfrew studied chemistry at the University of Idaho, in part, influenced by a chemist uncle. After serving as a teaching assistant in both physics and chemistry and completing a Masters thesis, he joined George Glockler at Minnesota for research on Raman spectroscopy. He recalls contemporaries at both Moscow and Minneapolis, as well as a summer spent on the road with a tent show. When Renfrew joined the Arlington laboratories of du Pont, he was much involved with plastics development, especially of Teflon, and he recalls the enthusiastic interest aroused by the disclosure of its properties at an ACS meeting in 1946. Malcolm Renfrew has long had a special interest in health and safety in the chemical environment, and he recounts laboratory accidents during the development of PTFE. After moving to General Mills and then to Spencer Kellogg, ascending the research management ladder, Renfrew went back to his alma mater in 1959 as head of physical science. He completes the interview with an account of his return to teaching.
University of Idaho
1932 - 1933
Fellow in Physics
University of Idaho
1933 - 1935
Teaching Assistant in Chemistry
University of Minnesota
1935 - 1937
Teaching Assistant in Chemistry
University of Minnesota
1935 - 1938
DuPont Fellow
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
1938 - 1944
Research Chemist, Plastics Department, Arlington, N.J.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
1946 - 1946
Supervisor of Process Development, Plastics Department, Arlington, N.J.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
1946 - 1948
Supervisor of Product Development, Plastics Department, Arlington, N.J.
General Mills, Inc.
1949 - 1952
Head of Chemical Research Department
General Mills, Inc.
1952 - 1953
Director of Chemical Research
General Mills, Inc.
1953 - 1954
Director of Chemical Research and Development
Spencer Kellogg and Sons, Inc., Buffalo, New York
1954 - 1958
Director of Research and Development
University of Idaho
1959 - 1976
Professor of Chemistry
University of Idaho
1959 - 1967
Head of Physical Science Department
University of Idaho
1968 - 1973
Head of Chemistry Department
University of Idaho
1976
Professor Emeritus
University of Idaho
1977 - 1978
Executive Vice President, Idaho Research Foundation, Inc.
University of Idaho
1978 - 1986
Patent Director, Idaho Research Foundation, Inc.
Title and Description Page
Childhood and Early Education 1
Family background and growing up in Idaho and Washington. Early interests in music and drama. Influence of a chemist uncle.
University of Idaho 3
Chemistry studies under Von Ende and Cady. Effects of the Depression. Research for M.S. degree. Colleagues at Idaho. Summer with tent show.
University of Minnesota 13
Teaching assistant in chemistry; chlorine incident. Raman spectroscopy with Glockler. Contemporaries.
DuPont Arlington Laboratories 17
Plastics development. Brooklyn seminars. Teflon and wartime needs. Laboratory accidents. Unveiling of Teflon at ACS meeting. Photopolymerization studies.
General Mills Company and Spencer Kellogg & Sons 34
Reactive polyamide resin research. Move to Kellogg, new research laboratory.
Return to University of Idaho 37
Head of physical science, recruitment of new faculty. Teaching responsibilities. Laboratory safety concerns. ACS activities; column in the Journal of Chemical Education.
Addenda 41
Notes 45
Index 47
James J. Bohning
James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.