Philip S. Skell was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jacob and Molly Lipfriend Skell. He married Margo Fosse on December 25, 1948, in Taft.

He held a bachelor of science degree from City College of New York, a master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from Duke University. He worked as a professor of chemistry at Penn State University.is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 chemist

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

, emeritus Evan Pugh

Evan Pugh

Evan Pugh was the first president of the Pennsylvania State University, serving from 1859 until his death from cholera in 1864. An agricultural chemist, he was responsible for securing Penn State's designation in 1863 as a land-grant institution under the Morrill Land Grant Act...

 Professor at Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

, and member of the United States National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 (appointed in 1977).

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research

National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research

The National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research is an United States Department of Agriculture laboratory center in Peoria, Illinois...

 and as a post-doc at the University of Illinois, Skell took part in the early work on the production of Penicillin

Penicillin

Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....

.

At Penn State, Skell's field of research were then hypothetical very short-lived Reaction intermediate

Reaction intermediate

A reaction intermediate or an intermediate is a molecular entity that is formed from the reactants and reacts further to give the directly observed products of a chemical reaction. Most chemical reactions are stepwise, that is they take more than one elementary step to complete...

s like free radicals, Carbonium ion

Carbonium ion

A carbonium ion is a carbocation of the penta- or tetracoordinated nonclassical type such as an ion of the type R5C+.- Methanium:The parent compound methanium or CH5+ is protonated methane and a superacid. This ion exists as a reactive intermediate in the interstellar medium and can be produced in...

s, Tricarbon

Tricarbon

Tricarbon or C3 is a small carbon cluster first spectroscopically observed in the beginning 20th century in the tail of a comet by William Huggins and subsequently identified in stellar atmospheres. Tricarbon can be found in interstellar space and can be produced in the laboratory by a process...

 and Carbene

Carbene

In chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is RR'C:, but the carbon can instead be double-bonded to one group. The term "carbene" may also merely refer to the compound H2C:, also called...

, whose existence and properties he could demonstrate by use of Chemical trap

Chemical trap

In chemistry, a chemical trap is a chemical compound that is used to detect a certain molecule when* The concentration of this molecule is very small and below detection limit...

s. Applying new experimental techniques he was able to examine the chemical properties of single free atoms rather than atoms in compound. His contributions have been characterized as follows:

Another class of intermediates, containing divalent carbon atoms, were suggested by John Nef early in this century but his ideas were generally rejected. However, the concept was revived with vigor when Philip Skell showed that: CCl₂, dichlorocarbone, was formed as a reaction intermediate. Carbene

Carbene

In chemistry, a carbene is a molecule containing a neutral carbon atom with a valence of two and two unshared valence electrons. The general formula is RR'C:, but the carbon can instead be double-bonded to one group. The term "carbene" may also merely refer to the compound H2C:, also called...

 chemistry almost immediately became the subject of extensive physical organic research.

Philip S. Skell, sometimes called "the father of carbene chemistry," is widely known for the "Skell Rule," which was first applied to carbenes, the "fleeting species" of carbon. The rule, which predicts the most probable pathway through which certain chemical compounds will be formed, found use throughout the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Philip S. Skell is a signatory of A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism

A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism

A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism is a statement issued in 2001 by the Discovery Institute, a conservative non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, USA, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design.The statement expresses skepticism about the ability of random...

.