Solomon Schwartzman papers, 1946-1952

Solomon Schwartzman was born November 25, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York. He received bachelors and masters degrees from New York University and did doctoral work in biochemistry and physical chemistry at the University of Wisconsin. During his doctoral studies he spent time at the University of Chicago working on the Manhattan project. In 1945, Schwartzman took employment with Schenley Laboratories in Lawrenceburg , Ind. where he did research in fermentation and antibiotics. In 1948 he moved to Chicago to take a position with Armour Research Foundation of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He spent time in Jamaica, British West Indies where he had been sent by the Foundation to assist in the technical rehabilitation of a leather plant. From 1951 to 1954 he served as a member of the United Nations Technical Assistance Mission to Indonesia. He worked extensively with the Indonesian government to build the industrial infrastructure of the newly independent country. After returning from overseas, Schwartzman took a position as research director for the Grayslake Gelatin Company where he was employed at the time of his death on January 30, 1968. During the 1960s Schwartzman attended the John Marshall Law School. He successfully completed all courses and was graduated (posthumously) in March 1968. He was survived by his wife, Eva, and a son, Steven. Schwartzman authored a number of articles in the general field of industrial process secondary to agriculture and on Gelatin and its manufacture. The above biographical information was provided by Steven Schwartzman, son of the creator of the materials in this collection. Armour Research Foundation (ARF) was one of the first private, not-for-profit contract research laboratories in the United States. Begun in Chicago in 1936 by Armour Institute of Technology (AIT), ARF was acquired by Illinois Institute of Technology in 1940 when IIT was created by the merger of AIT and Lewis Institute. Re-named Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology, it was later reorganized as the IIT Research Institute (IITRI). Under all its iterations, the laboratory conducted research for commercial and government sources, expanding to an international operation. Per IIT President John L. Anderson's April e-newsletter to the campus community, "In 2002, Alion purchased the non-life-science assets of IIT Research Institute.... IITRI remains an IIT-controlled company and is led by David McCormick, who is also professor of biology at the university.... [In March 2010] the university received a cash payment...in exchange for our final holdings of bonds and warrants in Alion...." Source: IIT Archives (Chicago)