Robert A. Mendelson

December 17, 1930 – January 10, 2020

Chemist

Fellow, Elected 2015

Robert Mendelson was born in Cleveland Ohio in Dec. 1930 a year after The Society of Rheology was inaugurated. He remained in Cleveland for his education and in 1952, received his B.S. in Chemistry from Case Institute of Technology. He then continued at what was now Case Western Reserve University and received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1956. After completing his doctoral work he joined Monsanto Chemical Company where his work on the rheology and characterization of polystyrene and styrene copolymers led to promotion to the rank of Senior Science Fellow. He subsequently moved to Exxon Research in Houston where his work was primarily focused on pioneering studies focusing on characterization and rheology of long-chain branching (LCB) in ethylene polymers. In his career he published more than 40 papers and patents on topics as diverse as temperature dependence of rheological properties, GPC determination of LCB and the effect of chain branching on subsequent melt rheology. He also served on an international committee which established ISO standards for rheology, and also helped develop the material used for the first plastic Coca-Cola bottles. In 1983 he received the Arthur K. Doolittle Award of the Polymer Materials Division of ACS for his work on new styrene-based terpolymer blends.

Mendelson served as The Society of Rheology Secretary from 1973-1977, and subsequently was elected to the office of President from 1989-1991. While president, Mendelson worked to help put a halt to regulations which would prohibit federal employees from serving on executive committees for scientific societies; an important issue for a volunteer-led society which has benefited greatly from the service of numerous NBS and NIST employees as Executive Officers of the Society. He also led the Society during a key publishing transition in which the Society (in conjunction with AIP) took over the role of publishing the Journal of Rheology from John Wiley & Sons. He passed away in January, 2020 and is fondly remembered as a humble man of few words, but unquestionable integrity.

Sources

Robert A. Mendelson. Obitio Online Obituaries (accessed Jul 2020).

Mendelson is President of Rheology Society. Physics Today, 41(3), 82 (1988) (accessed Jul 2020).

Society of Rheology Records, 1924-1997, Box 1, Folder 15.