Norman Hackerman is internationally recognized as an expert in metal corrosion. He has devoted most of his scientific study to the electrochemistry of oxidation, and his work has resulted in the development of a number of processes--invaluable to the metals industry--which slow or prevent corrosion.

Hackerman was born March 2, 1912, in Baltimore, Maryland. He earned his undergraduate (1932) and doctoral degrees (1935) in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University and immediately embarked on a career as an educator by accepting an assistant professorship in the physical chemistry department at Loyola College in Maryland. Hackerman also worked concurrently as a research chemist for the Colloid Corporation until 1940, when he accepted a position as an assistant chemist with the United States Coast Guard.

Hackerman briefly returned to academic life in 1941 as an assistant professor of chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Two years later, Hackerman accepted a post as a research chemist for the Kellex...