Pedersen, Charles J., 1904-1989

Charles John Pedersen (1904-1989) was born in Pusan, Korea on October 3, 1904. Pedersen's Norwegian father Brede, was a mining engineer with the Oriental Consolidated Mining Company, an American firm that operated the Unsan gold mines in northern Korea. His mother, Takino Yashui, was the daughter of a Japanese merchant dealing in soybeans and silkworms.

Pedersen was educated at a Catholic preparatory school in Yokohama, Japan run by the Marianist Order. In 1922, he came to the United States to attend the University of Dayton, also a Marianist institution. After receiving his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Dayton in 1926, Pedersen was awarded a master's degree in organic chemistry the following year from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recognizing Pedersen's promise, Professor James F. Norris urged him to pursue a doctorate, but Pedersen opted to enter private industry instead.

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