[[File:Prof_Samuel_Soloveichik.jpg|thumb|300px|Prof. Samuel Soloveichik attending a wedding with his wife in New York City, 1963.]] '''Dr. Samuel (Shmuel Yaakov) Soloveichik''' (1909 – February 25, 1967) was an Orthodox Jewish chemist and talmudist.<ref name=NYT-obit>{{cite news|title=Dr. Samuel Soloveichik Is Dead; Chemistry Professor at Yeshiva|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/02/27/90281353.html?pageNumber=29|accessdate=20 April 2016|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 27, 1967|page=29}}</ref>

== Early life ==

Born in Pruzhany, Samuel Soloveichik was the second son of Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. He was the brother of rabbis Joseph Soloveitchik (1903-1993) and Ahron Soloveichik (1917-2001). He had two sisters, Mrs. Shulamith Meiselman (1912-2009), and Mrs. Anne Gerber (1915-2011).<ref name=NYT-obit/>

After engaging in talmudic studies with his father, Soloveichik studied mathematics and science.<ref>* Shulamith Soloveitchik Meiselman, ''The Soloveitchik Heritage: A Daughter's Memoir'' (1995)</ref><ref>Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, ''From Washington Avenue to Washington Street'', (2011)</ref> In 1934 he received a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Brussels, graduating ''magnum cum laude''.<ref name=NYT-obit/><ref name="select.nytimes.com">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/02/27/archives/dr-samuel-soloveichik-is-dead-chemistry-professor-at-yeshiva.html?sq=Samuel%2520soloveichik&scp=1&st=cse|title = Dr. Samuel Soloveichik is Dead; Chemistry Professor at Yeshiva|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 27 February 1967}}</ref> In 1939 he emigrated to the United States. During the Second World War Soloveichik worked as a research chemist for the Board of Chemical Warfare and the Board of Economic Warfare.<ref name="select.nytimes.com"/>

== Career ==

In 1950, he received a Research Fellowship at Yeshiva University becoming Lecturer in Chemistry in the University's Chemistry Department in 1953. From 1959 until his death he was Associate Professor of Chemistry.<ref name=NYT-obit/> He was also a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.<ref name=NYT-obit/><ref name="select.nytimes.com"/>

In a paper published in 1966, Soloveichik proposed a means of classifying aliphatic compounds similar to the periodic table.<ref name=NYT-obit/><ref name="select.nytimes.com"/> Prior to publishing the paper he discussed its contents with the chemist Linus Pauling in August–September 1955.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/calendar/1955/08/|title = Linus Pauling Day-by-Day - Special Collections - Oregon State University}}</ref>

Soloveichik was an expert and frequently lectured and wrote in the field of the History of Chemistry.<ref name=NYT-obit/> In a series of papers he attributed the premature deaths or illnesses of the chemists Joseph Priestley, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Humphry Davy, William Cruickshank (chemist) and James Woodhouse to chemical poisoning.

In lectures at Yeshiva University Soloveichik discussed the relationship between science and Torah with regard to issues such as the age of the earth<ref>Leon M. Mozeson ''Echoes of the Song of the Nightingale: The Torah as Divine Document'' (1991)</ref> and whether the earth orbits the sun or vice versa.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://admin2.collegepublisher.com/preview/mobile/2.2469/2.2831/1.297677 |title=Kol HaMevaser - the Commentator - Yeshiva College |accessdate=2012-02-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120707152447/http://admin2.collegepublisher.com/preview/mobile/2.2469/2.2831/1.297677 |archivedate=2012-07-07 }}</ref>

== Death ==

Soloveichik died aged 58 on February 25, 1967, at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York.<ref name=NYT-obit/> He was survived by his wife Bathsheba Ziv, a teacher at the Beis Yaakov-Beis Miriam High School in the Bronx, and his four siblings. His older brother Joseph Ber delivered a brief eulogy at his funeral, as did Yeshiva University President, Dr. Samuel Belkin. The main eulogy, lasting close to two hours, was delivered by his younger brother, Ahron.

The ''Dr. Samuel Soloveichik Prize in Natural Science'' was established at Yeshiva University in his memory.

==Brisker Family Tree== {{Brisker family tree}}

==Articles== * "The Last Fight for Phlogiston and the Death of Priestley," J. Chem. Educ. 39 (1962), pp.&nbsp;644–646 * "Hidden Danger In the Lab", Chem. Eng. News, 41(37), (1963), p.&nbsp;178 * "Toxicity: Killer of great chemists?," J. Chem. Educ., 41 (5),(1964), p.&nbsp;282 * and Henry Krakauer "Oxidation stages of organic aliphatic compounds: A classification scheme" J. Chem. Educ. 43 (10) 1966, p.&nbsp;532 * and Henry Krakauer, "Alfred Werner," in Werner Centennial: A Symposium, ed. George B. Kauffman (Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society), pp.&nbsp;3–7

==Patents== * 'Method for Preparing Formic Esters', (US Patent 2617821, November 11, 1952) * 'Process for the Production of Nitrous Esters' (Serial No. 438,325, August 2, 1955)

==References== * http://archive.jta.org/article/1967/02/28/2748407/dr-samuel-soloveichik-yochiva-university-professor-dead-was-58 <references />

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Soloveichik, Samuel}} Category:1909 births Category:1967 deaths Category:American Orthodox Jews Category:Jewish chemists Category:Historians of science Category:Yeshiva University faculty Category:People from Pruzhany Category:Belarusian Jews Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century science writers