In 1962, the American Chemical Society awarded the Priestley Medal Joel H. Hildebrand “to recognize distinguished services to chemistry,” the Society’s most prestigious award.

Hildebrand, always the effective teacher, summarized the current status of knowledge about nonelectrolyte solutions in monographs designed to interest and to instruct chemists. Initially, these were general reports on the status of knowledge in the field and carried the title, The Solubility of Nonelectrolytes. The successive editions of 1924, 1936, and 1950 (the last with R. L. Scott) grew in size along with the rapid advance of knowledge in this area.

Hildebrand’s impact as a teacher was just as important and in many respects more remarkable than this role in research. His freshman chemistry lectures, given regularly from 1913 until his “retirement” in 1952 were legendary. Thousands of alumni recall his vivid descriptions and dramatic demonstrations as well as enlivening digressions into music, art, and mountaineering.