RARE “Eastman Kodak" Donald Othmer Hand Written Note on 5.5X3 Card For Sale

Up for sale "Eastman Kodak" Donald Othmer Hand Written Note on 5.5X3 Card Dated 1960.

11, 1904 – November 1, 1995) was an American professor of chemical engineering,

an inventor, multi-millionaire and philanthropist,

whose most famous work is the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Othmer

was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 11, 1904. He

attended Omaha Central High School,

then gained a scholarship to the chemical engineering program at Armour Institute

of Technology (now Illinois Institute of

Technology), in Chicago. However, he changed to

the University of Nebraska,

graduating in 1924 in Chemical Engineering. He completed a Masters at the University of Michigan in

1925 and completed a doctorate in chemical engineering[3] with a thesis entitled "The effect of

temperature, purity and temperature drop on the rate of condensation of

steam" at the same university in 1927. He was a teacher for nearly 60

years, supervising many masters and doctoral students. While an academic, he

continued to invent, and is credited with more than 150 US patents, as

well as 350 papers, including important ones on the theory and practice

of distillation. In 1945,

together with Dr. Raymond Eller Kirk (1890–1957), a chemist at the same institute, he began the work which

became the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, a major

reference work. (At that time the only comparable reference work was Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, in

German.) In 1947 the first volume was published, and it was completed in 1949.

The fifth edition was completed in 2007 with 27 volumes. For this and other

achievements he received awards from the American

Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society,

the American Institute of Chemists and the Society of Chemical

Industry. In 1987 he received the New York City Mayor's Award of

Honor for Science and Technology. He was named by the readers of Chemical and Engineering

News as one of the 75 greatest chemical scientists ever. Beginning

with a $25,000 investment in a Warren Buffett partnership in the early sixties, the

Othmers accumulated a substantial stake in Berkshire Hathaway. At the

time of Mildred Othmer's death, their estate totaled more than $750 million,

much of which was disbursed in major bequests. These included Polytechnic

University, Long Island College

Hospital, Brooklyn, the University of Nebraska and the Chemical Heritage

Foundation, resulting in the Othmer Library of Chemical History. A

major bequest was made to Planned Parenthood of

New York, resulting in the Othmer Institute. He and his wife had supported many

other causes in their lifetimes, particularly in the fields of local history,

medical care and institutions related to chemistry and chemical engineering.

They are commemorated by buildings and awards including the AIChE Sophomore

Academic Excellence Award.