The 150th Birthday of the First American Professor at the ETH, Frederic Pearson Treadwell (1857–1918)

Frederic Pearson Treadwell (1857–1918) was the first American chemist to accept a permanent position at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland. His love for chemistry made a lasting impact on analytical, inorganic, and physical chemistry, which is still seen today. It was a small ripple in chemistry terms that began 150 years ago, which was relinquished to his son, William Dupré Treadwell (1885–1959), the second American chemist at the ETH. Today this event compares with a tsunami of American chemists who arrive in Switzerland, bringing with them their ideas, creativity, enthusiasm, and spirit of adventure.