Roger Adams

Who was Roger Adams?

Roger Adams was an American organic chemist. He is best known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, and his work did much to determine the composition of naturally occurring substances such as complex vegetable oils and plant alkaloids. As the Department Head of Chemistry at the University of Illinois from 1926 to 1954, he also greatly influenced graduate education in America, taught over 250 Ph.D. students and postgraduate students, and served the U.S. as a scientist at the highest levels during World War I and World War II.