Neil E. Gordon
(Director from 1931-1947)
Neil E. Gordon was the founder of the Gordon Research Conferences.
Born on October 7, 1886, Neil Elbridge Gordon grew up in a central New York farmhouse, the third
of four children. From a young age, Gordon enjoyed his studies, math in particular, and was often
seen doing household chores with a book in hand. A studious young man, Gordon quickly set his sights
on a career in academia. After graduating from high school in just two years, he attended Syracuse
Business School, then Syracuse University, where he received his Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy) in
1911, majoring in mathematics and minoring in chemistry. In 1912, he received a Master's Degree
from Syracuse before attending Johns Hopkins University for his Ph.D., which he earned in 1917, this
time with a major in chemistry and a minor in mathematics.
After several relatively short teaching stints, Gordon settled in at Maryland State Agricultural
College, soon to be named the University of Maryland, as Assistant Professor of Physical and Organic
Chemistry. After two years, Gordon was promoted to professor and also asked to chair the chemistry
department, where he served for eight years. In the interim, Gordon helped found the ACS Section
(later Division) of Chemical Education and launched the Journal of Chemical Education in January
1924.
In 1928, Gordon resigned from the University of Maryland to accept the newly established Francis
P. Garvan Chair of Chemical Education at Johns Hopkins University. Building on experiences with
organizing scientific discussions as an undergraduate, Gordon took over an intermittent set of meetings
that had been held in the chemistry department since the mid-1920s. In 1931, Gordon organized the
first formal conference; its success in stimulating discussion on various cutting-edge scientific topics
led to additional week-long conferences in subsequent years. Starting in 1934, the conferences were
held on nearby Gibson Island.
To the surprise of colleagues and family, Gordon resigned from his position at Johns Hopkins
University and accepted a post as Chairman of the Chemistry Department at Central College in
Missouri in 1936. At Central College, Gordon established the Hooker Scientific Library, later renamed
the Kresge-Hooker Scientific Library, and became Secretary of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science [AAAS]. He also renewed his involvement in the "AAAS-Gibson Island
Conferences", as they were then called, and was named their first director. In the spring of 1942,
Gordon left Central College for a post as Chairman of the Chemistry Department at Wayne University
in Detroit, taking with him the Hooker Scientific Library and continuing his participation in the research
conferences. In 1946, Gordon resigned as director of the Conferences. Shortly thereafter, in 1947,
Gordon resigned from the Chemistry Department at Wayne University. In 1948, shortly before his
death, the research conferences were formally renamed the Gordon Research Conferences in his
honor. Neil Elbridge Gordon died in May 1949.