Professor professor professor of chemistry chemistry fellow member author grants
Morse, Harmon Northrop, , Vermont 1848 1920 Male Professor professor of chemistry, was born at Cambridge, Vt. , where his early years were spent on his father's farm.
He was the son of Harmon and Elizabeth Murray (Buck) Morse and a brother of Anson Daniel Morse [q. v. ].
His first paternal ancestor, John Morse, came to America in 1639 from England and settled at New Haven, Connecticut Morse graduated from Amherst in 1873 and after two years in Germany he received the degree of Ph. D. from Göttingen in 1875.
When The Johns Hopkins University was opened he was made one of the first fellows of that institution but before entering upon the fellowship he was promoted to a position on the staff of the chemistry department of that university and remained connected therewith until his retirement, becoming successively associate professor (1883), professor of analytical chemistry and adjunct director of the laboratory (1892), professor of inorganic and analytical chemistry and director of the chemistry laboratory from 1908 until his retirement in 1916.
In 1916 he was awarded the Avogadro Medal offered by the Turin Academy of Sciences.
After returning to America he taught for one year at Amherst.
He made but three contributions in this field, however, when it was necessary for him to give his attention to inorganic and analytical chemistry.
His investigations in these fields included many new methods of quantitative analysis both gravimetric and volumetric and a well-known method for the calibration of volumetric apparatus.
Besides researches on methods of analysis his work on The Atomic Weight of Zinc as Determined by the Composition of Its Oxide (1889), written in collaboration with W. M. Burton, and "A Redetermination of the Atomic Weight of Cadmium" (American Chemical Journal, April 1892), in collaboration with H. C. Jones, deserve special mention.
Up to this point Morse's work consisted of isolated researches on a variety of analytical problems in which there was frequently exhibited a high order of skill and ingenuity.
In 1896 he began his first extended investigation.
This was on permanganic acid and its salts and was continued for several years.
This work led by accident to what later proved to be his most conspicuous investigation.
It was noticed occasionally that the porous clay cell used in the preparation of permanganic acid solutions became filled with finely divided manganese dioxide.
From this observation an electrolytic method was developed for depositing semipermeable membranes.
In all, Morse published about sixty articles on original researches.
All of these except the first three were published in the American Chemical Journal.
[Biographical memoirs in Memoirs Nat.
Acad.
Sci. , vol.
XXI (1926), with bibliography; Who's Who in America, 1920-21; Daily Eastern Argus (Portland, Me. )
, Sept. 9, 1920. ]
He was also fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, foreign member of the Utrecht Society of Arts and Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, and of the National Academy of Sciences.
There were no children by the second marriage.
In 1887 his wife died leaving four children, and on Dec. 24, 1890, he was married to Elizabeth Dennis Clarke of Portland, Me.
He had married, Dec. 13, 1876, Caroline Augusta, daughter of John Brooks, a merchant of Montpelier, Vt.
In 1887 his wife died leaving four children, and on Dec. 24, 1890, he was married to Elizabeth Dennis Clarke of Portland, Me.
He had married, Dec. 13, 1876, Caroline Augusta, daughter of John Brooks, a merchant of Montpelier, Vt.
In 1887 his wife died leaving four children, and on Dec. 24, 1890, he was married to Elizabeth Dennis Clarke of Portland, Me.
For many years preceding his retirement he was research associate of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C. Morse's first contributions were in the field of organic chemistry.
