Before he became the first president of a certain country he was responsible for numbers of British schoolchildren collecting horse chestnuts. Who was he and what were the horse chestnuts used for?

McGruff

Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel. Acetone had previously been made from calcium acetate imported from Germany. Since importation of the German calcium acetate was not possible and the United States did not have a large supply, Weizmann was recruited by Winston Churchill and the British government to set up his microbial fermentation for the production of acetone from corn at the Nicholson Distillery in London. The grain supply was unreliable, however, because of the German blockade and it was necessary to look for a different fermentable carbohydrate. Food was being rationed so a substrate that could not be used for human food was needed. In 1916, Weizmann even tried to use horse chestnuts collected by children, but the supply was insufficient for a large-scale fermentation. http://www.accessexcellence.org:8080/LC/SS/ferm_background.html Apr 17 06, 12:38 AM

gmackematix

Yay McG! And as your artiicle also points out, the acetone was required as the solvent for the manufacture of nitrocellulose and hence cordite (an explosive). However, I don't think this justifies current British schoolchildren having to wear goggles to play a game of conkers! Apr 17 06, 8:34 PM

gmackematix

Incidentally, Google currently has 101 entries under "Chaim reaction"! Apr 17 06, 8:38 PM