The new section, which quickly assumed a central position in the rise of chemical industries in the United States, soon became a center for the exchange of ideas on business and technical matters, and it established awards for individuals who were crucial to the success of the chemical enterprise. On October 6, 1906, at a banquet at Delmonico's restaurant in New York to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir William Henry Perkin's discovery of mauve (aniline purple), the first coal-tar dye, the New York Section instituted the Perkin Medal to be awarded annually in the spring to "that chemist residing in the United States who had accomplished the most valuable work in applied chemistry during his career."

A second annual award, the Grasselli Medal, was established in 1920 for the best paper presented to the section. It was succeeded in 1933 by the Chemical Industry Medal to be awarded each fall to "a person making a valuable application of chemical research to industry."

This commemorative centennial volume, profusely illustrated with photographs, drawings, and advertisements culled from archives and other sources, tells the story of the SCI's American Section and the concomitant growth of the chemical sciences and chemical process industries during the 20th century, largely through the achievements of the Perkin (1906-1994) and Chemical Industry (1933-1994) Medalists, whose names, along with those of the section's chairmen (1894-1994), also are listed at the end of the book (Only one woman, Edith M. Flanigen, who received the 1992 Perkin Medal for her development of catalysts, appears in these lists, which read like a "Who's Who" of the American chemical industry). The book's 10 chapters consider leading developments and the rise of entrepreneurship in electrochemicals, electrical inventions, mineral products, industrial gases, natural products, synthetic organic chemicals, chemical education, industrial research, petroleum, petrochemicals, nylon, synthetic rubber, plastics, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and the environment. The hundreds of persons whose discoveries are discussed include such luminaries as Acheson, Charles Martin Hall, Cottrell, Baekeland, Carothers, Remsen, Chandler, Langmuir, Whitney, Roger Adams, Othmer, Seaborg, Midgley, Marvel, Flory, Mark, Sarett, Tishier, and Djerassi. A one-page bibliography is provided but no index (not a serious handicap in view of the book's brevity). According to Harold A. Sorgenti, chairman of the section, who wrote the foreword, "this centennial record [was produced] in the hope that it may encourage creative young people of energy and imagination to take up the new demands being made on science, technology, and society." Thus, this attractive, well-written volume will be of interest not only to historians of chemistry, science, and technology; practicing chemists; and chemical educators but also to students.