Albert C. Holler Collection

Albert C. Holler (1921-2009) was an American analytical chemist. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1921, Holler first became interested in chemistry at the age of eleven. In his youth, he set up a chemistry lab in the basement of his parents’ home and won several prizes for his chemistry-related projects. He also worked at Reinhold Pharmacy, where he took his salary in chemicals.

Holler started his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh’s Erie Center in Erie, Pennsylvania (1939-1941). At Pitt-Erie Center, he developed a process for detecting cadmium in copper solution. At the age of nineteen, he published his first scientific paper on this innovation, titled “The Qualitative Determination of Cadmium in the Presence of Copper,” which appeared in the March 1941 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Holler’s undergraduate education was interrupted by World War II. From 1941 to 1944, he worked at U.S. Metal Products Company, where he served as Chief Chemist and Metallurgist. At U.S. Metal Products, he supervised the production, control, and research of secondary copper-based alloys.

In 1944, Holler resumed his undergraduate education in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his B.S. in Chemistry (1947). At Minnesota, he studied under renowned analytical chemist Izaak M. Kolthoff and was a member of the Alpha Chi Sigma Chemistry Fraternity and Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society. He was awarded Sigma Xi’s Thomas F. Andrew Prize for excellence in undergraduate research in analytical chemistry. After his graduation in 1947, he remained at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemistry for a time, serving as a research fellow under physical chemist Bryce Crawford.

In 1948, Holler went to work at Twin City Testing Engineering Laboratory, Incorporated in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he enjoyed a productive thirty-seven-year career. At Twin City Testing, Holler played a key role in the development of the firm’s Chemistry Division, which grew to include forty chemists, industrial hygienists, and technicians. Under his direction, the Chemistry Division provided a wide variety of chemical analysis services, including the analysis of numerous substances (such as metals, rocks and minerals, and soaps and oils), water analysis, sewage analysis, and petroleum and fuels testing. Holler rose through Twin City Testing’s corporate hierarchy, eventually serving as Director of the Chemistry Division and Vice President of Chemistry. He retired from Twin City Testing in 1985.

Albert C. Holler was an active member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemists, and the American Society for Testing Materials. He also authored and co-authored several scientific journal articles. Along with William T. Freier, he was co-author of the textbook Introduction to Industrial Chemistry (1945).

Albert C. Holler passed away in 2009.

Sources

Albert C. Holler Collection, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.