Papers of Laurence E. Strong

Laurence E. Strong (1914-2007) was an American physical chemist and chemistry educator. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on September 9, 1914, Strong graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1936 and earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Brown University in 1940. From 1940 to 1946, he worked at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Physical Chemistry, where he served as a researcher on the Harvard Blood Plasma Project. A wartime clinical chemistry project spearheaded by Edwin J. Cohn, Harvard Medical School researchers used blood fractionation techniques to isolate the serum albumin fraction of blood plasma, which was used in transfusions to mitigate blood loss. This development saved numerous lives on the battlefield during World War II.

After World War II, Strong returned to Kalamazoo College as a Professor of Chemistry. In 1952, he was appointed Chairman of the Chemistry Department at Earlham College. While at Earlham, he served as Director of the Chemical Bond Approach (CBA) Project, a program established to develop a new and improved high school chemistry curriculum. Strong retired from teaching in 1979 but remained at Earlham as a research professor until 1993, when he moved to Sandy Spring, Maryland.

Laurence E. Strong died at Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, Maryland on March 8, 2007.

Sources

Papers of Laurence E. Strong, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.