Herman Pines, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Herman Pines

American chemist

Date of Birth: 17-Jan-1902

Place of Birth: Łódź, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 10-Apr-1996

Profession: chemist, university teacher

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Herman Pines (January 17, 1902 – April 10, 1996) was a Russian-American chemist.
Born in Lódz—then part of the Russian Empire—he left his hometown as a young man as Jewish quotas and other anti-Jewish practices prevented Jewish students from attending university.
After earning a degree in chemical engineering at the École Supérieure de Chimie Industrielle de Lyon in France, he worked at Universal Oil Products (now UOP LLC) from 1930 to 1952.
Pines also worked at Northwestern University beginning in 1941, and served from 1953–1970 as the Ipatieff Research Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Ipatieff High Pressure and Catalytic Laboratory.He is best known for his work with Vladimir Ipatieff on the catalytic conversion of high-octane aviation fuel, which was made available to the Royal Air Force during World War II, helping them win the Battle of Britain.
Because of his scientific contributions, new processes were developed for the isomerization of paraffins, the alkylation of aromatic compounds, and base-catalyzed organic reactions.