20th Anniversary
Oct 14-18, 2024
Los Altos High School
Sally and Dr. Howard Peters
IP Attorney/JD Information Specialist
Chocolate - Food of the Gods
Science
Chocolate has been a part of our New World culture for thousands of years.
This fun presentation includes:
1. Some high points of the ancient history of chocolate and its production from
the Mayan, Olmec and Aztec cultures up to the present.
2. Aspects of the growing, processing, fermenting, drying, conching,
tempering, blending and finishing of the cocoa pod, bean and pulp.
3. Some chemistry, biochemistry and biology of chocolate and its
active ingredients including theobroma cocao (literally from the Greek: Food of the Gods). Caffeine, theophylline (flavonoids, polyphenols and other antioxidants) showing that this exotic processed food is good for you.
4. Trivial connections to chocolate.
5. & For those who stay to the "bitter" end, there will be a free drawing for chocolate items.
Meet the Speaker:
Howard Peters, Ph.D., earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and his doctorate at Stanford University. He received his law degree from Santa Clara University in California. As a chemist, he led research projects on volatile anesthetics, organic fluorine compounds, herbicides and high explosives. Following his career in the lab (becoming a co-inventor on seven U.S. patents), he was a patent attorney in Silicon Valley for more than 30 years. He has been an ACS member for more than 50 years and a member of the ACS Council for 30 years. He served on the Society’s Board of Directors from 2005 to 2007.
Sally Peters also earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Geneva College and received a master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University. She was an information specialist at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, California, for more than 28 years. Earlier in her career, she conducted virus research at Stanford under the direction of Hubert Loring, Ph.D., the chemist who first crystallized the polio virus, which was later used by Jonas Salk to create the first effective vaccine for the disease. Sally has served as an ACS councilor for more than 20 years.