Paul C. Freer was born in 1862 in Chicago. His father was a successful doctor who eventually became President of Rush Medical College. He died young in a severe epidemic of typhoid fever. Paul’s mother was born in Germany but had moved to New Orleans. After the death of her husband, she took the children back to Germany where Paul received his elementary education.  The family returned to Chicago where Paul received his secondary education becoming top of his class. After high school Paul entered Rush Medical College and to study medicine but was finally attracted to chemistry. He graduated from Rush Medical College with the class of 1882, aged twenty. He then studied under Professor von Baeyer at the University of Munich obtaining his doctorate ‘summa cum laude’. He spent a short time in England in the private laboratory of Sir William Perkin working on aniline dyes and later at Owens College in Manchester. He returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1889, being employed as a lecturer at University of Michigan.  Later, he became Professor of Chemistry. He successfully re-organised the Department on the German model emphasising chemical research. He had a long-standing interest in science education and was an excellent public speaker. He wrote one of the better school textbooks of its era entitled, <i>Elements of Chemistry</i>. In 1905, he was appointed to the US Bureau of Science (as Director) and became superintendent of the government laboratories in Manila in the Philippines. He was expected to have a very influential career. However, his death in April 1912 from a stomach complaint (intestinal abscesses) tragically cut short his career. He was fondly remembered by both Americans and Filipinos for his scientific work in the Philippines.

Paul Caspar Freer (1861-1912): Expatriate American chemist

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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