Celebrate Black History Month in February 2023 with the HVCC Chemistry Club!
Feel free to log onto the Chemistry Club’s Blackboard site and post your thoughts about this year’s featured chemist — James LuValle — in the Black History Month Discussion Board. You’re welcome to add links there for other places that share information about James LuValle.
An article in the February 2021 issue of Chemical & Engineering news tells us more about him:
“James Ellis Lu Valle was an Olympian and a chemist. During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Lu Valle won the bronze medal in the 400 m race. This was the Olympics in which Jesse Owens took home four gold medals while Adolf Hitler watched. That same year, Lu Valle earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. The university later named a student center after him, making Lu Valle the first student to have his name grace a UCLA building.” (Satyanarayana p. 64)
“After earning a master’s degree from UCLA, Lu Valle pursued his PhD under the guidance of Linus Pauling at the California Institute of Technology. After teaching at Fisk University, an historically Black institution in Nashville, Tennessee, Lu Valle became the first Black person to work for Eastman Kodak. Later in his career, he became director of physical and chemical research at Smith-Corona Marchant in Palo Alto, California. When the company closed, Stanford University asked Lu Valle to lead the first-year chemistry lab, and he agreed, ending his career by returning to education and mentorship.” (Satyanarayana p. 64)
Reference: Satyanarayana, Megha. “James Ellis Lu Valle.” Chemical & Engineering News 15/22 February 2021: 64.