ERIC G. KUNZ--MEDALIST By EowAe, o SAOARIN Givaudan-Delawanna, Inc., New York 18, N.Y. THERE MAY BE many in this audience who feel that it is a pecu- liarly simple and pleasant task for me to utilize eulogistic terms in revealing something to you about a life as rich in accomplishments as that of Dr. Eric C. Kunz. The task is pleasant, but it is far from simple, for I am being called upon to introduce to you a man for whom ! have so great an admiration, so personal an affection, that I can- not pretend to achieve that objec- tivity which is the foundation of all search for truth. Rather than constrain myself, I shall allow the life of this man to speak for itself, and I will be content with a bio- graphical statement of his 'achieve- ments. We are gathered here tonight-- most of us American natives and citizens--to honor a man who came to us in his youth from another land. The story of this Swiss-born scien- tist who is our medal-award winner is a story which, fortunately for the United States, has been told many times before, and we hope will be relived in the future. For it is the saga of American strength, the poetry of her soul, the story of the land which offers opportunities un- limited to those who reach her shores from overseas, and at the same time enriches herself by ab- sorbing from these people their talents and their ambitions- enriches herself by distilling in the great melting pot the ideals and the philosophies and the cultures of all lands and peoples. It was out of this fundamental cornerstone that America was born and grew, and it is from this precept that there was made possible the life-work of a man like Dr. Kunz, thus benefitting at one and the same time both the man and his adopted country. 1884--the year that Eric Kunz was born in a small town on the Lake of Zurich, in the German- speaking section of Switzerland. how the young science of synthetic organic chemistry was groping in the first flush of its early successes, yet how little did mankind dream of the wonders of syn thesis that were to come on the morrow! The first syntheses of dyestuffs, synthetic perfume materials, even medicinal compounds, were capturing the imagination of the scientifically inclined youth of Europe, and in the 260

ERIC C. KUNZ--MEDALIST 261 milieu in which Eric Kunz obtained his education, many youths, in- fluenced by the growing German chemical industry, were turning their attention to the stills and the crucibles. In his studies at Zurich, Eric Kunz was fortunate in coming under the influence of two great scien- tists and teachers. The first was Dr. Richard Willstatter, professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich, later to become Nobel Prize Winner and Eric Kun7's doctorate in chemistry was conferred at the University of Zurich, under the di- rection of another Nobel Prize Win- ner,' Dr. Alfred Werner. Four years in the Institute, and Eric Kunz obtained his doctorate under Dr. Werner'.• exacting de- mands, after having invented the first organic salt which was sub- ject to electrolysis in the molten state, in the absence of water. Into the world of chemistry Dr. Kunz went forward, and quite naturally looked to Germany as the country where schooling could be supplemented by necessary experi- ence. It was to the great German dye- stuff industry that Dr. Kunz was able to turn--an industry that was to become, in World War I then almost upon us, a weapon of Ger- man strength comparable to her disciplined marching armies. And, following a short period as assist- ant to the chief chemist in a German textile finishing, dyeing and printing firm, Dr. Kunz's sponsor urged h:.m to go to Russia, but he declined, already having in mind a desire to come to America. Instead, he joined the research laboratories of the young but expanding Givau- dan organization in Geneva, al- ß ready a major supplier of synthetic perfume chemicals. What was it that attracted this brilliant young chemist, who had re- markable opportunities before him in his native land and in the sur- rounding countries of Europe, to our shores? Primarily it was the combination of America's indus- trial progress, her almost unlimited productive potential, with its back- wardness in things chemical. In a country so rich in natural resources, that had already achieved a fore- most position in countless phases of production, chemistry was one of the remaining .industrial frontiers, hardly explored and little exploited. The day would surely come when American chemistry would find it necessary to put forth a new declaration of independence, un- tying the bonds that held it to Europe, and particularly to Ger- many. And Dr. Kunz, foreseeing that time, came to this country to contribute to that growth and to derive the personal benefits that must come to those who make such contributions. The day of American chemical independence would come, thought the young voyager, but little did he realize that it was practically upon him, and that America's unreadi- ness for this day could prove to be a vital crisis in our country's history. A short time after his arrival in