Marvin Carmack was born September 1, 1913, in Dana, IN. He completed his A.B. Honors degree at the University of Illinois with a major in Organic Chemistry in 1937. He then enrolled in graduate studies with a major in Organic Chemistry at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). He completed the requirements for the M.S. degree in 1939 and the Ph. D. in 1940. Dr. Carmack returned to the University of Illinois in 1940-41 for postdoctoral research. In the fall of 1941, he joined the faculty of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In addition to his teaching organic chemistry, Professor Carmack was the Official Investigator for the three years during World War II of a contract between the University of Pennsylvania and the U. S. Office of Research and Development.
Professor Carmack began his tenure at Indiana University in 1958 where he remained for the rest of his career, retiring in 1983. Professor Carmack's research was recognized by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed Army Research Institute as well as a number of
chemical companies. He was a consultant to Abbott Laboratories, the DuPont Company, and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists and a member of the American Chemical Society, The Chemical Society (London), the Swiss Chemical Society, The National Micrographic Association, the Philadelphia Organic Chemists Club, and the New York Academy of Sciences. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chi Sigma, and the Society of Sigma Xi. At Indiana University, he supervised the research of nineteen Ph.D. and nine Master's degree candidates, and he was author or coauthor of more than 100 research articles. Following his retirement, Professor Carmack continued to follow research progress in natural products and sulfur chemistry and to write essays on scientific subjects.
Professor Carmack died on July 6, 2010.
