Cleveland has been a center in the development of industrial chemistry with crucial advances in the petroleum, metals, paint, lighting, and battery industries. The importance of Cleveland in the history of the chemical industry will be traced using the seven American Chemical Society National Historical Chemical Landmarks in our area. In fact, the Cleveland section of the American Chemical Society is tied with the New York City section for the greatest number of landmarks! The Cleveland landmarks include the Hall process for the production of aluminum, Morley’s determination of the atomic weight of oxygen at Western Reserve University, Eveready’s Columbia dry cell battery, Sherwin-Williams’ water-based paint, SOHIO’s acrylonitrile production process, GrafTech’s high performance carbon fibers, and Day-Glo’s fluorescent pigments. The interconnectivity of Cleveland’s seven Chemical Historical Landmarks as well as the several important scientific achievements in Cleveland that did not get selected as landmarks will be presented.
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