The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) and the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie (FMC) will present the Franklin-Lavoisier Prize to author Fred Aftalion in a dinner ceremony on April 3 at CHF in Philadelphia.
“Fred is one of the world’s leading experts on the global chemical enterprise,” said Carsten Reinhardt, president and CEO of CHF. “After a distinguished career in the chemical industry in France, Fred wrote A History of the International Chemical Industry, bringing together a lifetime of insight in a unique history covering nearly two centuries.”
Aftalion studied under Herman Mark at Brooklyn Polytechnic’s Polymer Institute in 1946. His first job in the chemical industry was as an engineer with Hercules, where he spent five years in the U.S. and Latin America. Returning to France in 1951, he joined Naphtachimie, where he set up the marketing networks of what was then a new petrochemicals company.
In 1956, he took over as manager of the Société Française d’Organo-Synthèse (SFOS) and spent the next three decades at the company. As an author, Aftalion has written several books about the chemical industry, including “A History of the International Chemical Industry.”
For more information, visit www.chemheritage.org.