Moses Gomberg was born on 8th February, 1866 in Elizabetgrad, Russia. In 1884 his father, George Gomberg, was accused of anti-Czarist activities and the family fled to Chicago. After enduring much hardship, Moses entered the University of Michigan and graduated with a B.Sc in 1890. He received an M.Sc in 1892 and a doctorate in 1894. He spent 1896-97 in Germany first in Baeyer's laboratory in Munich and then in Victor Meyer's laboratory in Heidelberg. Here he performed the first successful synthesis of tetraphenylmethane.
On his return to Michigan he turned his attention to the related hexaphenylethane. Most of the rest of his life was devoted to the investigation of triarylmethyls and related compounds. He retired in 1936 and died on February 12th 1947.