Charles Frederic Mabery

Background

Charles Frederic Mabery was the son of Henry and Elizabeth A. (Bennett) Mabery, and was born on January 13, 1850 at New Gloucester, Maine, United States,

Education

Mabery's early education was received in the public schools of Gorham, Maine, and in Kent's Hill Academy. After graduation from the academy, he taught for five years in schools of his native state. In 1873, he studied chemistry in the summer school of Harvard University and in the fall enrolled in the same institution for intensive study in chemistry under Josiah P. Cooke. Three years later, he graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School with the degree of B. S. Continuing at Harvard as a graduate student, he received the degree of Sc. D. in 1881. During this time and also for two additional years, he was an assistant in chemistry and supervised the work in chemistry in the Harvard Summer School.

Career

Mabery was appointed instructor in chemistry at the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1883, and the next year, he became professor, retaining this rank until he retired in 1911. After his retirement, Charles continued investigations which he had long been carrying on. They dealt principally with petroleum, though he did considerable original work in organic chemistry, water analysis, and electric smelting. He published nearly sixty papers on petroleum chiefly in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Journal of Science, American Chemical Journal, Journal of the American Chemical Institute, and Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

His work on petroleum includes both theoretical studies of the geo-chemical evidence of the origin of petroleum and its relation to coal and asphalts, and practical investigations of lubrication and lubricants. About twenty-five papers deal with the composition of petroleum from the principal oil fields of the world. This comprehensive work, especially the analytical testing, was conducted with much skill and sagacity and as a result he became an authority on petroleum, particularly on questions concerning the proportion of sulfur and the identification of hydrocarbons in different oils.

In electro-chemistry he published seven papers. One was "On the Electric Furnace and the Reduction of the Oxides of Boron, Silicon, Aluminum and Other Metals by Carbon". Others dealt with various products from the electric furnace. All gave information on its construction and application at a time when such knowledge was helpful in solving initial problems in electric smelting.

The fifteen papers on organic chemistry, which were published from 1877 to 1884, deal mainly with certain organic acids, e. g. , uric, propionic, and acrylic, and their halogen substitution products. Throughout his career, he was deeply interested in chemical education, and he delivered twelve public addresses devoted to methods and problems of teaching chemistry.

Achievements

• Charles Frederic Mabery was a pioneer experimenter in the electrical production of aluminum and invented a process for the preparation of anhydrous aluminum chloride. His four papers on water chemistry were a definite contribution to the vexatious question of municipal water supply.

Works

• book

  • THE RELATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF PETROLEUM TO ITS GENESIS AND GEOLOGICAL OCCURRENCE

Membership

Mabery was a fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the American Chemical Society.

Connections

On November 19, 1872, Mabery married Frances A. Lewis of Gorham, Maine; they had one child, who died in infancy.

Father:

Henry Mabery

Mother:

Elizabeth A. (Bennett) Mabery

Wife:

Frances A. Lewis