500 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Spedding received his Bachelor of Science degree in metallurgy from the University of Michigan in 1925, as well as Master of Science degree in analytical chemistry the next year.
Gallery of Frank Spedding
Berkeley, California, United States
In 1929 Spedding obtained his doctor's degree in physical chemistry from the University of California. He also worked there from 1932 till 1934.
Career
Gallery of Frank Spedding
Ithaca, New York, United States
Cornell University, where Spedding worked from 1935 till 1937.
Gallery of Frank Spedding
Ames, Iowa, United States
Iowa State University, where Spedding served from 1937 till 1973
Gallery of Frank Spedding
Spedding served as a director of the Institute for Atomic Research (later called Ames Laboratory), beginning in 1945, becoming its principal scientist in 1968.
Achievements
Membership
National Academy of Sciences
1968 - 1976
2101 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, United States
National Academy of Sciences, where Spedding was a member of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.
500 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States
Spedding received his Bachelor of Science degree in metallurgy from the University of Michigan in 1925, as well as Master of Science degree in analytical chemistry the next year.
Spedding served as a director of the Institute for Atomic Research (later called Ames Laboratory), beginning in 1945, becoming its principal scientist in 1968.
Frank Harold Spedding was an American chemist, educator and writer. He is mostly recognized for the impact he had on understanding of spectra of the rare-earth elements, as well as for the establishment of a national Ames Laboratory for the United States Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy).
Background
Frank Harold Spedding was born on October 22, 1902, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was a son of Howard Leslie Spedding, a photographer, and Mary Ann Elizabeth (Marshall) Spedding. In his early childhood, his family moved to Michigan, and then to Chicago. In 1918 Spedding's family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Education
Spedding received his Bachelor of Science degree in metallurgy from the University of Michigan in 1925, as well as Master of Science degree in analytical chemistry the next year. In 1929 Spedding obtained his doctor's degree in physical chemistry from the University of California in Berkeley. He also studied chemistry and physics in Cambridge, England.
Spedding became a chemistry instructor at the University of California at Berkeley in 1932, staying there for two years. From 1935 till 1937 he worked at Cornell University at the position of an instructor. That same year he moved to Iowa State University, working as a professor of physical chemistry till 1941. Rising to a professor of chemistry, Spedding held the position till 1973. Simultaneously, he was a professor of physics at Iowa State University for 23 years from 1950. He became a distinguished professor of science and humanities in 1957. For ten years from 1962 Spedding served as a professor of metallurgy, he was also an emeritus professor of chemistry, physics and metallurgy at Iowa State University from 1973 till 1984. As a longtime professor and researcher at Iowa State University, Spedding supervised the processing and placement of the tons of uranium needed to trigger the chain reaction that powered the atomic bomb. Additionally, Spedding served as a director of the Institute for Atomic Research (later called Ames Laboratory), beginning in 1945, becoming its principal scientist in 1968.
During the war, Spedding was a director of research for the Plutonium Project arm of the Manhattan Project at Iowa State University and at the University of Chicago. Dividing his time between Chicago and Ames, Spedding, together with Harley A. Wilhelm and C.F. Gray, found a way to produce very pure uranium metal.
In the mid-1950, Spedding was a technical representative for the Atomic Energy Commission at Geneva Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. He was also United States Department of State representative at the Fifth World Power conference in Vienna, Austria.
Spedding also developed inexpensive and efficient ways to isolate lanthanides, which are the industrially-useful “rare earth metals” with atomic weights of fifty-seven to seventy-one on the periodic table. He isolated the heavier metals known as actinides, which have higher atomic weights but are similar to lanthanides in many respects. To isolate both groups of metals, he developed the ion-exchange chromatograph, which uses resin to separate elements. Spedding edited a book on these elements, the 1961 publication The Rare Earths.
Spedding was a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Faraday Society and the American Association of University Professors.
National Academy of Sciences
,
United States
1968 - 1976
Connections
Spedding married Ethel Annie MacFarlane on June 21, 1931. The couple produced a daughter Mary Ann Elizabeth.