text: frank spedding frank harold spedding ( october 22 , 1902 – december 15 , 1984 ) was a canadian american chemist . he was a renowned expert on rare earth elements , and on extraction of metals from minerals . the uranium extraction process helped make it possible for the manhattan project to build the first atomic bombs . a graduate of the university of michigan and university of california , berkeley , spedding became an assistant professor and head of the department of physical chemistry at iowa state college in 1937 . his efforts at building up the school were so successful that he would spend the rest of his career there , becoming a professor of chemistry in 1941 , a professor of physics in 1950 , a professor of metallurgy in 1962 , and ultimately professor emeritus in 1973 . he co - founded , along with dr. harley wilhelm , the institute for atomic research and the ames laboratory of the atomic energy commission , and directed the ames laboratory from its founding in 1947 until 1968 . spedding developed an ion exchange method of separating and purifying rare earth elements using ion exchange resins , and later used ion exchange to separate isotopes of individual elements , including hundreds of grams of almost pure nitrogen - 15 . he published over 250 peer - reviewed papers , and held 22 patents in his own name and jointly with others . some 88 students received their ph.d. degree under his supervision . early life and education spedding was born on october 22 , 1902 , in hamilton , ontario , canada , the son of howard leslie spedding and mary ann elizabeth ( marshall ) spedding . soon after he was born , the family moved to michigan , and then chicago . he became a naturalized u.s. citizen through his father . the family moved to ann arbor , michigan , where his father worked as a photographer , in 1918 . he entered the university of michigan in 1920 , receiving a bachelor of science ( b.s. ) degree in chemical engineering in 1925 and a master of science ( m.s. ) in analytical chemistry the following year . as an undergraduate , spedding took issue with the prevailing explanation by friedrich august kekulé of how the six carbon atoms in benzene hold together and proposed an alternate explanation . his professor , moses gomberg , recognised this as being the same as the ( incorrect ) model advanced by albert ladenburg in 1869 . at gomberg 's suggestion , spedding applied to the university of california , berkeley , to study for his doctorate under gilbert n. lewis . gomberg wrote a recommendation so that spedding was not only accepted , but given a teaching fellowship as well . under lewis 's supervision , spedding earned his doctor of philosophy ( ph.d. ) in 1929 , writing his thesis on " line absorption spectra in solids at low temperatures in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum " . it was published that year in the physical review . early career spedding 's graduation coincided with the onset of the great depression , and jobs became hard to find . spedding received a national research fellowship from 1930 to 1932 , enabling him to stay at berkeley and continue his research into the spectra of solids . while hiking in northern california , he met ethel annie macfarlane , who shared his passion for camping , hiking and mountain climbing . born in winnipeg , manitoba , she was a graduate of the university of saskatchewan and the university of toronto , where she had earned a master 's degree in history . when they met , she was teaching at victoria high school in victoria , british columbia . they were married on june 21 , 1931 . they had a daughter , mary anne elizabeth , who was born in 1939 . from 1932 to 1934 , spedding worked for lewis as a chemistry instructor . around this time , he became interested in the chemistry of the rare earths . these were expensive and hard to find , and generally available only in minute amounts . in 1933 he won the irving langmuir award for most outstanding young chemist . the award came with a cash prize of $ 1 , 000 . he borrowed money to travel to chicago to collect it . while he was there , he was approached by a man offering several pounds of europium and samarium . his benefactor was herbert newby mccoy , a retired chemistry professor from the university of chicago , who had obtained a supply of these elements from the lindsey light and chemical company , where they were a byproduct of thorium production . a few weeks later , spedding received a package in the mail containing jars of the metals . in 1934 , spedding was awarded a guggenheim fellowship , allowing him to study in europe . to save money , spedding and his wife travelled to europe by heading westward across the pacific . his intention was to study in germany under james franck and francis simon , but they fled germany after adolf hitler came to power in march 1933 . instead he went to the cavendish laboratory at the university of cambridge in england , where he was welcomed by ralph h. fowler . spedding worked with john lennard - jones , and attended lectures given by max born . he paid a visit to niels bohr in copenhagen , and gave a lecture in leningrad . when spedding returned to the united states in 1935 , the country was still in the grip of the great depression , and the job market had not improved . he was george fisher baker assistant professor at cornell university from 1935 to 1937 . it was another temporary position , but it did allow him to work with hans bethe . at one point he drove out to ohio state university hoping to find a tenure track position . the position had already been filled , but the professor of chemistry there , w. l. evans , knew that winfred f. ( buck ) coover at iowa state college in ames , iowa , had a position . " i wouldn 't normally have chosen the place , " spedding later recalled , " but i was desperate . i thought : i can go there and build up physical chemistry and when jobs really open up i can go to another school . " spedding took up the position as assistant professor and head of the department of physical chemistry at iowa state college in 1937 . his efforts at building up the school were so successful that he would spend the rest of his career there , becoming a professor of chemistry in 1941 , a professor of physics in 1950 , a professor of metallurgy in 1962 , and ultimately professor emeritus in 1973 . manhattan project by february 1942 , the united states had entered world war ii , and the manhattan project was building up . at the university of chicago , arthur h. compton established its metallurgical laboratory . its mission was to build nuclear reactors to create plutonium that would be used in atomic bombs . for advice on assembling the laboratory 's chemistry division , compton , a physicist , turned to herbert mccoy , who had considerable experience with isotopes and radioactive elements . mccoy recommended spedding as an expert on the rare earth elements , which were chemically similar to the actinide series that included uranium and plutonium . compton asked spedding to become the head of the metallurgical laboratory 's chemistry division . due to lack of space at the university of chicago , spedding proposed to organise part of the chemistry division at iowa state college in ames , where he had colleagues who were willing to help . it was agreed that spedding would spend half of each week in ames , and half in chicago . the first problem on the agenda was to find uranium for the nuclear reactor that enrico fermi was proposing to build . the only uranium metal available commercially was produced by the westinghouse electric and manufacturing company , using a photochemical process that produced ingots the size of a quarter that were sold for around $ 20 per gram . edward creutz , the head of the group responsible for fabricating the uranium , wanted a metal sphere the size of an orange for his experiments . with westinghouse 's process , it would have cost $ 200 , 000 and taken a year to produce . the other major problem was the purity of the uranium . impurities could act as neutron poisons and prevent a nuclear reactor from working , but the uranium oxide that fermi wanted for his experimental reactor contained unacceptably large amounts of impurities . as a result , references published before 1942 typically listed its melting point at around 1 , 800 ° c ( 3 , 270 ° f ) when pure uranium metal actually melts at 1 , 132 ° c ( 2 , 070 ° f ) . the most effective way to purify uranium oxide in the laboratory was to take advantage of the fact that uranium nitrate is soluble in ether . scaling this process up for industrial production was a dangerous proposition ; ether was explosive , and a factory using large quantities was likely to blow up or burn down . compton and spedding turned to mallinckrodt in saint louis , missouri , which had experience with ether . spedding went over the details with mallinckrodt 's chemical engineers , henry v. farr and john r. , on 17 april 1942 . within a few months , sixty tons of highly pure uranium oxide was produced . spedding recruited two chemistry professors at ames for his group there , harley wilhelm and i. b. johns . spedding and wilhelm began looking for ways to create the uranium metal . at the time , it was produced in the form of a powder , and was highly pyrophoric . it could be pressed and sintered and stored in cans , but to be useful , it needed to be melted and cast . the ames team found that molten uranium could be cast in a graphite container . although graphite was known to react with uranium , this could be managed because the carbide formed only where the two touched . to produce uranium metal , they tried reducing uranium oxide with hydrogen , but this did not work . they then investigated a process ( now known as the ames process ) originally developed by j. c. goggins and others at the university of new hampshire in 1926 . this involved mixing uranium tetrachloride and calcium metal in a calcium oxide - lined steel pressure vessel ( known as a " bomb " ) and heating it . they were able to reproduce goggin 's results in august 1942 , and by september , the ames project had produced a 4 . 980 - kilogram ( 10 . 98 lb ) ingot . starting in july 1943 , mallinckrodt , union carbide , and dupont began producing uranium by the ames process , and ames phased out its own production by early 1945 . as a result , the ames laboratory never moved to chicago , but spedding was present at the university of chicago on 2 december 1942 , to witness the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in fermi 's chicago pile - 1 . throughout the war , the laboratory held regular information sessions known as " " . in addition to its work with uranium , the ames laboratory produced 437 pounds ( 198 kg ) of extremely pure cerium for the cerium sulphide crucibles used by the plutonium metallurgists . fears that world supplies of uranium were limited led to experiments with thorium , which could be irradiated to produce fissile uranium - 233 . a calcium reduction process was developed for thorium , and some 4 , 500 pounds ( 2 , 000 kg ) was produced . later life after world war ii , spedding founded the institute for atomic research and the ames laboratory of the atomic energy commission . he directed the ames laboratory from its founding in 1947 until 1968 . it was initially established on the grounds of iowa state college . permanent buildings were constructed that were opened in 1948 and 1950 , and subsequently named wilhelm hall and spedding hall . spedding was " universally acknowledged as one of the world ’ s foremost experts on the identification and separation of rare earths " . he developed an ion exchange method of separating and purifying rare earth elements using ion exchange resins . he later used ion exchange to separate isotopes of individual elements , including hundreds of grams of almost pure nitrogen - 15 . during his career , spedding published over 260 peer - reviewed papers , and held 22 patents in his own name and jointly with others . some 88 students received their ph.d. degree under his supervision . after his retirement in 1972 , he authored 60 books . he received the william h. nichols award from the american chemical society in 1952 , the james douglas gold medal from the american institute of mining , metallurgical , and petroleum engineers in 1961 and the francis j. medal from the franklin institute in 1969 . he was nominated several times for the nobel prize in chemistry , but never won . an award called the frank h. spedding award is presented at the annual rare earth research conference . spedding suffered a stroke in november 1984 , and was hospitalised , but sent home . he died suddenly on december 15 , 1984 , and was buried in the cemetery at iowa state university . he was survived by his wife , daughter , and three grandchildren . his papers are housed in the special collections department of iowa state university .