Otto Theodor Benfey Papers

Otto Theodor (“Ted”) Benfey was a German chemist and historian of science. Born in Berlin, Germany on October 31, 1925, Benfey was sent to England by his family in 1936 to escape persecution by the Nazis. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry (1945) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry (1947) from the University College London. After receiving his Ph.D., he studied at Columbia University as a postdoctoral research fellow (1947-1948).

Benfey began his teaching career at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania (1948-1956), where he rose to the rank of associate professor of chemistry. In 1955-1956, he held a research fellowship at Harvard University. From 1956 through 1973, Benfey taught chemistry and the history of science at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. In 1973, he became the Dana Professor of the History of Science at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He retired from Guilford as emeritus professor in 1988.

In his retirement, Benfey held an editorial position at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (now called the Science History Institute) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1989-1996). During this period, he also taught at the University of Pennsylvania as an adjunct professor of history and sociology of science.

Benfey was the recipient of several awards over the course of his career, including the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Award (1970-1971) and the American Chemical Society’s HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry (2019). He also travelled widely and was the author and editor of several books in his field, including Classics in the Theory of Chemical Combination (1963).

Sources

O. Theodor Benfey Oral History, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Otto Theodor Benfey Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“Ted Benfey Received HIST Award”, C&EN, June 7, 2019 - https://cen.acs.org/acs-news/programs/Ted-Benfey-receives-HIST-Award/97/i23