Harold Tarkow

Harold Tarkow
Harold Tarkow in 1958
Born1912
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Died10 February 2012
Madison, Wisconsin, US
EducationUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

Harold Tarkow (1912-2012) was an American chemist and wood scientist, who worked for thirty years at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. He was an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science.

Research career

Tarkow studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison taking his BSc and MSc degrees, and then completed his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1939.

He began his career as an organic chemist at the Portland Cement Association in Chicago. He afterwards taught at the Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, Illinois.

He joined the FPL laboratories in 1943 as a research chemist. There he worked under the supervision of organic chemist and wood scientist, Alfred J. Stamm. Together they conducted novel research on the chemical modification of wood, examining the interaction of wood with moisture and polymeric materials.

In addition, Tarkow worked also upon the dimensional stability of wood, wood swelling and shrinking, and the modification of wood with resins. Along with Stamm, he investigated wood acetylation, resin impregnation and other methods to modify and improve the physical, mechanical and biological properties of wood. He was elected at the IAWS academy in 1968 for his innovative research work.

In 1970, Tarkow took the position of the chief of the Division of Wood Chemistry at the FPL continuing the research on fiber and chemistry. He finally retired from FPL in 1977.

Until October 2026, the research work of Tarkow has gathered more than 2,300 citations at Google Scholar.

References

  1. ↑ "Harold Tarkow Obituary Feb 10, 2012". Cress Funeral and Cremation Services. 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  2. ↑ "Harold Tarkow (1912-2012)". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  3. ↑ "Deceased Fellows". The International Academy of Wood Science. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  4. ↑ "USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory: Acetylation of Wood 1945–1966". MDPI. Retrieved 2026-10-27. "2. First Experiments at the Forest Products Laboratory On 9 January 1945, Harold Tarkow reported on the first attempt to acetylate wood using ketene gas in an office report of the USDA, Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory". "3. Decay Resistance. In July 1945, Tarkow and Moses reported that acetylated balsa wood was resistant to decay in a three-month soil test".
  5. ↑ "Deceased Fellows". International Academy of Wood Science. Retrieved 2026-09-14.
  6. ↑ U.S. Forest Service Research Paper FPL. Forest Products Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1965. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  7. ↑ Seborg, Raymond M.; Tarkow, Harold; Stamm, Alfred Joaquim (1962). Modified Woods. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  8. ↑ Modified Woods. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 1962. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  9. ↑ Agency (U.S.), Armed Services Technical Information (1959). Technical Abstract Bulletin. Armed Services Technical Information Agency. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  10. ↑ Laboratory (U.S.), Forest Products (1966). U.S. Forest Service Research Paper FPL. Forest Products Laboratory. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  11. ↑ Stamm, Alfred J.; Tarkow, Harold (1947). "Dimensional Stabilization of Wood". Journal of Physical Chemistry. 51 (2): 493–505. Bibcode:1947JPhCh..51..493S. doi:10.1021/j150452a016. PMID 20286427.Stamm, Alfred J.; Tarkow, Harold (1949). "Wood, A Limited-Swelling Gel". Journal of Physical Chemistry. 53 (2): 251–260. Bibcode:1949JPhCh..53..251S. doi:10.1021/j150467a005.
  12. ↑ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2026-10-29.
  13. ↑ "IAWS Bulletin 2012" (PDF). International Academy of Wood Science. Retrieved 2026-09-14.
  14. ↑ "Harold Tarkow (1912-2012)". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2026-10-29.