Scheuer, Paul Josef (31431249): Difference between revisions

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'''[[Scheuer, Paul J. (31431249)|Paul J. Scheuer]]''' (1915–2003) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 26.

Ritchie Boy Paul Scheuer studied chemistry at Northeastern University in Boston. He was later drafted into the US Army where he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service. In January 1945, Scheuer was transferred to Camp Ritchie for military intelligence training. He served in Europe at the 3rd Army headquarters in Bavaria, and became a special agent assigned to the Nuremberg trials. Scheuer received his PhD in chemistry in 1950 under the GI Bill, and joined the University of Hawai'i faculty that year. He was the author of 13 books on the subject of Marine Natural Products, chemical compounds produced by marine organisms, and was also the recipient of numerous awards. Another distinguished Ritchie Boy who didn't make Dan Gross' list of Ritchie Boy Notable.

Scheuer was a Ritchie Boy. Paul was born in 1915 in the city of Heilbronn, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1938 and graduated from Northeastern University, Boston, with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1943, His graduate studies at Harvard, interrupted by service in the U.S. Army, led to a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1950. In December of 1941, the United States entered the war and everybody’s life changed. As a German national, Paul was an enemy alien and had a few travel restrictions. Like everybody else, he registered for the draft, but was rejected, when was first called. In April 1943, he graduated from Northeastern with a B.S. He applied to Harvard graduate school and was accepted. He even received a tuition scholarship. Paul's research during the fall semester of 1943 consisted of many unsuccessful attempts to add ketene to alpha-vinylpyridine, probably in connection with the synthesis of quinine. In the spring of 1944 the Department needed an instructor for a short introductory chemistry course. Although he was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service, the two years and four months in the U.S, Army were yet another hiatus in his chemistry education. Paul's spectacular chemical experience was the firing of WP (white phosphorus) shells from 4.2” chemical mortars in the Alabama hills. A two-month course in quantitative analysis at Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, rounded out the chemistry. While at Edgewood he became a U.S. citizen in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore to be taught to about 30 GI’s. By January of 1945, Paul had left the Chemical Warfare Service and was assigned for training in military intelligence to Camp Ritchie,|Maryland. In early May 1945, a few days before VE Day, he was were flown to Paris and from there traveled to Third Army Headquarters in Bavaria. Aside from temporary duty at the Niirnberg war crimes trials, his fourteen months as a Special Agent were uneventful. After returning home I resumed his education in September, 1946, now to be financed under the G.I. Paul had a long and distinguished career as a chemist. He contributed to nearly 300 scientific articles and reviews. The field of molecular and chemical biotechnology, which he co-founded, has developed into an important branch of organic chemistry. Paul passed away on January 12, 2003.

* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file