John T. Stock (1911- 2005)

Professor John T. Stock, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Connecticut died at the age of 94 on February 6, 2005 after a brief illness. He will be remembered as an exceptional chemist, a celebrated chemical historian, educator, and a dear friend to all that knew him.

 Educated in England with a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from London University, Stock began his career in industry and with the British Ministry of Supply before becoming the vice principal of Norwood Technical College, London.  In 1954, he received the Robert Blair Award for overseas study and spent the year in research at the University of Minnesota with I.M Kolthoff.  Professor Stock came to University of Connecticut in 1956 where he led an active program in electrochemical research as well as the teaching of analytical chemistry. Through his long, distinguished career, he published more than 300 scientific papers and several books and monographs on various scientific topics.

An extensive sideline to his teaching was the development of apparatus and techniques, published in Journal of Chemical Education and elsewhere.  Many UConn students remember laboratory experiments using “Stock boxes”, - small electronic devices that Stock built for use in the teaching laboratory.  In 1977 he received the University of Connecticut Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching.

After retirement in 1979, Professor Stock remained an active scholar in the history of chemistry, both in Connecticut and at the London Science Museum, of which he was an honorary research fellow.  His interests include the study and preservation of historic chemical apparatus and the international aspects of the history of chemistry. . His 2004 publication, “Pilgrim’s Progress; The London Science Museum,” surveys the development of the Museum since his first visit in 1919. Stock published over 70 articles and made 40 oral presentations at national meetings of the American Chemical Society, all on the history of chemistry. In 1992 he received the Dexter Award for outstanding achievement in the history of chemistry from the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. In 2001, he received the Division of the History of Chemistry Certificate of Appreciation. Most recently, Professor Stock received the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s first Donor Appreciation Award.

Stock’s many books include: Small-Scale Inorganic Qualitative Analysis by J. T. Stock and P. Heath (1954), Development of the Chemical Balance (Science Museum) (1969), Amperometric Titrations (1975), The Development of Instruments to Measure Electric Current (Science Museum) by J.T. Stock and D. Vaughan (1986), The History and Preservation of Chemical Instrumentation (1986) and Electrochemistry, Past and Present (1989) by John T. Stock and Mary Virginia Orna. His most recent book, written in his 90’s, is Ostwald’s American Students: Apparatus, Techniques and Careers (2003).

 A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 30 at the First Church of Christ in Mansfield Center, CT.  Donations in memory of John T. Stock can be made to the First Church of Christ, 549 Storrs Rd, Mansfield, CT 06250, or to the John T. Stock Fund  for Chemistry, University of Connecticut, 2390 Alumni Drive, Storrs, CT 06269-3206 or to the charity of your choosing.

Based on material originally prepared as a biography by John T. Stock, December 2004 then modified by Dr. T.A. Perfetti of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry.