[Obituaries]

Abstract

AN account of the life and work of Dr. Luigi Casale, written by Dr. J. F. Crowley, who has been closely associated with the Italian chemist, appears in the issue of Chemistry and Industry for Mar. 11. Casale was born in 1882 at Langosco and was educated at Turin. He became head of the organic chemistry laboratory in the institute of general chemistry in the University of Turin in 1913. In 1915 he became head of the pharmaceutical chemistry laboratory of the University of Naples, where he carried out important investigations for the Italian War Office. Dr. Casale became interested in nitrogen fixation in 1917, and shortly after 1920 commercial plants for the production of synthetic ammonia by his process were in operation. The Casale process has been adopted in many parts of the world: the total capacity of the plants completed or in course of construction using this process amounts to 250,000 tons of ammonia per annum. The total world output of synthetic ammonia in 1925 was 350,000 tons. Dr. Crowley refers to the great personal charm of Dr. Casale, his high qualities as an investigator, and the loss which applied science has sustained by his early death.