Bertram boltwood biography of donald

Boltwood became interested in the field of radioactivity around the time Rutherford and Soddy announced their theory of disintegration of radioactive elements in Stimulated by the prospect of a visit by Rutherford to New Haven in , Boltwood began experiments to prove that uranium and radium exist in a constant ratio in unaltered minerals.

Bertram boltwood biography of donald

The results of the experiments gave strong support to the disintegration theory. Impressed with Boltwood's work, Rutherford urged him to continue working in the field. Rutherford's visit to Boltwood's laboratory in New Haven marked the beginning of a productive, friendly association between the two men. Boltwood's successive experiments in radioactivity led to the important discoveries and proofs referred to in the preceding pages.

His father, a lawyer, died when "Bolty" was two years old, and the boy, an only child, was raised by his mother in her home town of Castleton-on-Hudson, New York. His mother's family had come to America from Holland, also in the 17th century. Boltwood's mother was not wealthy, but she was affluent enough to send him to private school and, befitting her social position, destined him to attend Yale, his father's college.

He entered Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in and upon completion of the three-year program took highest honors in chemistry. Next came two years of postgraduate work in Munich, where he specialized in analytical techniques and in the chemistry of the rare earth elements. In Boltwood returned to Yale, working as a laboratory assistant while studying for his doctoral degree.

This program was enriched by a semester of physical chemistry in Ostwald's laboratory in Leipzig, and Boltwood received the Ph. A Scholar and Businessman Even before graduation Boltwood had served as an instructor in analytical chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific School. He continued in this post, and later in physical chemistry with the same rank, until , when he established a mining engineering and chemistry partnership with a schoolmate.

While at Yale his mastery of chemical techniques made him a great resource for his colleagues. Those years were also devoted to translating German chemical texts and to improving laboratory apparatus: his automatic Sprengel pump, new design for a water blast, and lead fume pipe for the Kjeldahl nitrogen determination apparatus date from this period, while his invention of Boltwax, a product useful for vacuum seals, came later.

As a businessman with a private laboratory in New Haven in , Boltwood analyzed ore samples sent by his partner working in the field in the Carolinas. Many of these samples contained rare earth elements and also uranium and thorium. In addition, in , he was appointed an acting professor of chemistry at Yale University, where he worked until Achievements In Boltwood showed that many of the radioactive elements decay into other radioactive elements.

He discovered ionium, now called thorium As a boy, he was interested in mechanical gadgets and enjoyed hobbies such as fishing, photography, and minerals. The latter was likely the influence of his uncle, Charles Upham Shepard, who was a mineralogist and a chemist. His teaching and research work at Yale focused on physical chemistry, despite it being a relatively new field.

For example, he developed a low melting point wax that found use in labs across the country and was called, "Boltwax". This experience brought him into contact with the rare earth metals he had studied as well as uranium and thorium, elements that would become the crux of his greatest scientific contributions.