Loeb, Morris

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LOEB, MORRIS

LOEB, MORRIS (1863–1912), U.S. physical chemist and philanthropist; brother of James *Loeb. Loeb was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1891 he became professor of chemistry at New York University, and was also attached to Clark University. In 1910 he resigned his chair to devote himself to research and his public activities. His main fields of research were on osmotic pressure, electrolysis, and the molecular weight of iodine. He was chairman of the New York section of the American Chemical Society and president of the Chemists' Club of New York City. His public and philanthropic work was carried out against the background of the intensive immigration of Jews into the United States at the time. He was director of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society and he created a Jewish Agricultural Experimental Station in New Jersey. He was president of the Hebrew Technical Institute, trustee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and founder of the American Jewish Committee and of the Educational Alliance.

bibliography:

T.W. Richards (ed.), The Scientific Work of Morris Loeb (1913); Morris Loeb Memorial Volume (1913); L.H. Baekeland, in: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 4 (1912), 784–5; C.L. Sulzberger, in: ajhsp, 22 (1914), 225–7.

[Samuel Aaron Miller]