Joseph S. Schmuckler Papers

Joseph Seymour Schmuckler was born in 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was imbued at an early age with the notion of teaching as an honorable profession. Upon graduation from Roxborough High School in Philadelphia, in the middle of World War II, he enlisted in the newly formed U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, Schmuckler decided to further his education, enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Schmuckler earned a B.S. in 1952 and an M.S. in 1954.

Upon graduation, Schmuckler accepted a teaching position at Haverford High School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, supplementing his teacher’s salary by summer work at Sun Oil Company and work as a consulting chemist for Sadtler Research Laboratories. An early and enthusiastic supporter of the experimental CHEMS (Chemical Education Material Study) Program for the teaching of high school chemistry, Joseph Schmuckler became one of the first high school teachers accepted to full membership in the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Education Division, a division he would one day serve as its president. His involvement in ACS activities led to a lasting friendship with the future Nobel laureate Alan G. MacDiarmid, who encouraged Schmuckler to seek his Ph.D. and served as his dissertation advisor. Schmuckler was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968.

In 1968, Schmuckler left Haverford High School to accept a position at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where for many years he held a dual professorship as both Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Education. In 1971, he began the first of many trips to mainland China, becoming affiliated with Tianjin Normal University, which granted him an Honorary Professorship in Chemical Education. Serving as both educator and goodwill ambassador, Schmuckler was instrumental in bringing many talented Chinese chemists to the United States.

Among the many awards that Schmuckler received are Outstanding Science Teacher in the State of Pennsylvania (1963, 1967), the Benjamin Rush Award (1968), the James Bryant Conant Award (1969), the George Washington Carver Award (1986) and Temple University’s “Great Teacher Award” (1989).

Schmuckler’s approach to education has always been an activist “hands on” one. An unapologetic supporter of classroom demonstrations, he is a recognized authority in the training of secondary school teachers of chemistry and played a major role in the development of the Inquiry/Discovery Matrix as a teaching tool. Joseph S. Schmuckler passed away on December 26, 2011.

Sources

Alnsworth, Susan J. “Joseph S. Schmuckler.” Chemical and Engineering News, March 12, 2012. https://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i11/Joseph-S-Schmuckler.html.

Joseph S. Schmuckler Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.