Charles Coryell

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Charles D. Coryell

Charles DuBois Coryell ( February 21, 1912 - January 7, 1971 ) was an American chemist and co-discoverer of the element promethium .

life and work

Coryell worked in the Clinton Laboratories, now Oak Ridge National Laboratory , studying elements of fission during World War II . He and his two colleagues Jacob A. Marinsky and Lawrence E. Glendenin were able to isolate the previously unknown rare earth metal promethium and also produce it by bombarding neodymium with neutrons . The separation from the other elements formed was carried out by means of ion exchange chromatography .

Coryell was at the California Institute of Technology in 1935 with a thesis on vanadium at Arthur A. Noyes doctorate . In the late 1930s he worked with Linus Pauling on the structure of hemoglobin . He also lectured at the University of California, Los Angeles , before joining the Manhattan Project in 1942 . In the project he was responsible for the investigation of the uranium fission products and the separation of the plutonium produced. He worked at both the University of Chicago (1942-1946) and the Clinton Laboratories (now Oak Ridge National Laboratory ) in Oak Ridge (Tennessee) (1943-1946).

In 1945, Coryell, Marinsky and Glendenin succeeded in discovering the previously unknown rare earth metal with the atomic number 61.

Marinsky and Glendenin were able to produce promethium both from fission products and by bombarding neodymium with neutrons; the separation from the other elements was carried out using ion exchange chromatography . For reasons of secrecy, the research results were not presented until September 1947 at a meeting of the American Chemical Society . The name Promethium comes from a suggestion made by Coryell's wife. Prometheus is a hero from the Greek world of legends, he stole the fire of the gods and brought it to people.

In 1945, Coryell was one of 154 signatories to the Szilárd petition . In this petition Harry S. Truman was asked to use the atomic bomb only as a demonstration in an uninhabited area in order to give Japan the possibility of surrender .

After World War II, he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Institute of Inorganic and Radiochemistry. At MIT he worked on the theory of nuclear fission and beta decay until his death in 1971 . In 1953 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society .

membership

In 1948, Coryell was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, Charles D. Coryell: The Chemical Identification of Radioisotopes of Neodymium and of Element 61. In: J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 1947 , 69 (11) , pp. 2781-2785; doi: 10.1021 / ja01203a059 .
  2. ^ Charles D. Coryell: The reduction potential of pentavalent vanadium to vanadyl ion in hydrochloric acid solutions. Fluorescence test as organic fumes, especially acetone. Studies of the nature and reactions of oxidized silver compounds, especially in nitric acid . Pasadena, CA 1935, OCLC 718751079 ( online PhD Thesis, California Institute of Technology).
  3. ↑ biographical data, publications and Academic pedigree of Charles D. Coryell at academictree.org, accessed on 28 January 2018th
  4. ^ Early Hemoglobin Investigations. In: It's in the Blood! A Documentary History of Linus Pauling, Hemoglobin and Sickle Cell Anemia. Oregon State University, accessed June 19, 2017 .
  5. ^ Linus Pauling: Letter from Linus Pauling to C. Lockard Conley. In: It's in the Blood! A Documentary History of Linus Pauling, Hemoglobin and Sickle Cell Anemia. Oregon State University, August 1, 1978, accessed December 3, 2008 (Discussing the work Pauling was doing with Coryell as his assistant).
  6. ↑ a b c Howard Gest: The July 1945 Szilard Petition on the Atomic Bomb: Memoir by a signer in Oak Ridge. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, accessed December 5, 2008.
  7. ↑ a b Guide to the Charles D. Coryell Papers, 1945–1959 , University of Chicago Library, accessed December 3, 2008.
  8. ↑ a b c d Reactor Chemistry - Discovery of Promethium. ( Memento of July 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: ORNL Review. Vol. 36, No. 1, 2003.
  9. ^ A b Nervous Elements , Time magazine, September 29, 1947.
  10. ^ Promethium Unbound: A New Element. ( Memento from June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: ORNL Review. Vol. 35, No. 3 and 4, 2002.
  11. ^ Oak Ridge Petition, mid-July 1945 , The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association.
  12. ^ MIT Chemistry Timeline , accessed December 3, 2008.
  13. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved October 11, 2015

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coryell, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coryell, Charles DuBois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist and nuclear physicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1912
DATE OF DEATH 7th January 1971