Wendell M. Latimer
| Wendell M. Latimer | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1893 Garnett, Kansas, USA |
| Died | July 6, 1955 (aged 62) Berkeley, California, USA |
| Fields | electrochemistry |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Alma mater | University of Kansas University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | George E. Gibson |
| Doctoral students | Willard F. Libby |
| Known for | Latimer diagrams |
| Spouse | Bertha Eichenauer (m. 1917, d.) Glatha Hatfield (m. 1926) |
Wendell Mitchell Latimer (April 22, 1893 – July 6, 1955) was an American chemist best known for his work on electrode potentials.
Contents
Early life
Wendell Latimer was born in Garnett, Kansas, the son of a banker. The family moved to Kansas City when Wendell was about three, but his father died of typhoid when Wendell was eight, leaving his mother in financial difficulties. They were taken in by Wendell's maternal grandfather on his homestead in Greely, Kansas, about 10 miles (16 km) from Garnett. Nevertheless, at his mother's insistance, Wendell attended Garnett High School, lodging in the city during the week and returning home at weekends.[1]
Wendell entered the University of Kansas in 1911 intending to study a pre-law program. However, he soon became disillusioned with university debating:[1]
I became disgusted with the methods which one had to use to win debates; logic counted for little as against the technique of building straw men and tearing them down with irony and sarcasm.
Instead, he majored in mathematics and chemistry, graduating with an A.B. degree in 1915. He remained at the University of Kansas for another two years as an assistant instructor in chemistry before being offered a scholarship to prepare his doctorate at the Univeristy of California under the supervision of George E. Gibson. He received his Ph.D. in 1919.[1]
Scientific career
Hydrogen bonding
Latimer published his first major chemical paper in 1920 with fellow Kansan Worth H. Rodebush, setting out the effects of hydrogen bonding in aqueous solutions.[2]
Electrode potentials
Nuclear chemistry
Latimer started a seminar on nuclear chemistry with the newly graduated Willard F. Libby in 1934. It would attract many of the young chemists in the Berkeley laboratories, including Glenn T. Seaborg, Joseph W. Kennedy, Sam Ruben and Arthur C. Wahl.
Family life
Latimer's first wife, Bertha Eichenauer (married 1917), and their son Walter both died early. Latimer remarried in 1926 to Glatha Hatfield, with who he had a daughter, Eleanor Ann, and a son, Robert Milton.[1] Robert followed his father's footsteps into chemistry, and was one of the team at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley (now the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) that first synthesized lawrencium in 1961.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hildebrand, Joel H. Wendell Mitchell Latimer, 1893–1955. In Biographical Memoirs; National Academy of Sciences: Washington, D.C., 1958; pp 218–37, <http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/wlatimer.pdf>.
- ↑ Latimer, Wendell M.; Rodebush, Worth H. Polarity and Ionization from the Standpoint of the Lewis Theory of Valence. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1920, 42 (7), 1419–33. DOI: 10.1021/ja01452a015.
- ↑ Ghiorso, Albert; Sikkeland, Torbjørn; Larsh, Almon E.; Latimer, Robert M. New Element, Lawrencium, Atomic Number 103. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1961, 6, 473–75. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.6.473.
Further reading
- Giauque, W. F. Wendell M. Latimer, Chemist. Science 1955, 122, 406–7. DOI: 10.1126/science.122.3166.406.
External links
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See also the corresponding article on Wikipedia. |
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