author
William August Puckner
b. 1864
A pharmacist and medical writer from Chicago, he helped shape practical drug reference works for physicians in the early 20th century. His writing sits at the crossroads of pharmacy, chemistry, and the drive for clearer medical standards.
1 Audiobook
Epitome of the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary With Comments
by Albion Walter Hewlett, William August Puckner, Torald Hermann Sollmann, Martin I. (Martin Inventius) Wilbert
About the author
William August Puckner, born in 1864, was an American pharmacist, chemist, and medical writer associated with Chicago’s pharmacy education world and later with the American Medical Association. Early records place him on the faculty of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, where he taught chemistry and worked in the chemical laboratory.
He is best known today for his role in professional drug-reference literature. Puckner served as secretary of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association, and his name appears on Epitome of the Pharmacopeia of the United States and the National Formulary, a practical reference prepared for physicians. He also wrote specialized work such as A Review of the Literature on the Estimation of Alkaloids for the Year 1905, showing his strong interest in pharmaceutical analysis and standards.
While readily available online sources do not offer much personal detail about his life beyond his professional work, they do show a career centered on making medicine and pharmacy more rigorous, organized, and useful to practitioners.