Frederick Belding Power 1853-1927: Pioneer pharmaceutical scientist

When Frederick Belding Power died in 1927, the editor of the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association wrote that Power was “an honor to pharmacy and an inspiration to scientists and is entitled to a place in Pharmacy's Hall of Fame.” A year earlier, Carl Alsberg, who had succeeded Harvey Wiley as the chief of the Bureau of Chemistry (today's Food and Drug Administration), wrote that Power performed great service in creating fundamental knowledge about medicinal plants, was a force in industry through his work with Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, and was an educator of first rank among scientists. In 1924, Ivor Griffith, editor of the American Journal of Pharmacy and later dean and president of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP), reviewed Power's publications and noted that the “extent of his work and his incalculable services to his profession may be judged by surveying this brilliant record of his scientific contributions.”