Farrington Daniels
Encyclopedia
Farrington Daniels was an American physical chemist
, is considered one of the pioneers of the modern direct use of solar energy.
on March 8, 1889. Daniels matured as a man with a religious and altruistic outlook, something nurtured from the time he entered Sunday school
at age four in Westminster Presbyterian Church
. He began day school in 1895 at the Kenwood
School and then on to Douglas School. Early on he enjoyed history, painting, and geography, and ironically disliked arithmetic. He also enjoyed camping, baseball, and telegraphy. As a boy, he was fascinated with Thomas Edison
, Samuel F. B. Morse
, Alexander Graham Bell
, and John Charles Fields
. He decided early that he wanted to be an electrician and inventor. He attended Central and East Side high schools. By this point he liked chemistry and physics, but equally enjoyed “Manual Training." He took an interest in electric motor
s, stamp collecting
, collecting bird's eggs, and caring for pet
s. His favorite book was titled Experimental Science.
In 1906 he entered the University of Minnesota
, majoring in chemistry
and adding to the usual mathematics
and analytical courses some courses in botany
and scientific German, studying assiduously. He sometimes worked summers as a railroad surveyor. He took his degree in chemistry in 1910. The following year he spent half his time in teaching and received an M.S. for graduate work in physical chemistry
. He entered Harvard in 1911, paying for his studies partly through a teaching fellowship, and received a Ph.D.
in 1914, his research having been a further inquiry into the relationship between electricity
and heat
. Other prominent contemporaries of Daniels from Harvard Graduate School
were E.K. Bolton, Roger Adams
, Frank C. Whitmore
, James B. Sumner
and James Bryant Conant
.
In the summer of 1912, Daniels had visited England
and Europe
. After earning his Ph.D., Harvard would have sent him on a traveling fellowship in Europe, but World War I
broke out. So instead he accepted a position as instructor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute
, where, besides teaching, he found he had considerable time for research in calorimetry
, for which he received a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
.
Daniels was director of the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Manhattan Project
and, after the war, became concerned to limit or stop the nuclear arms race
. In that regard, he became a Board Member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
In 1947 Daniels conceived the pebble bed reactor
, in which helium rises through fissioning uranium oxide or carbide pebbles and cools them by carrying away heat for power production. The "Daniels' pile" was an early version of the later high-temperature gas-cooled reactor developed further at ORNL, and now being put into production around the world.
Daniels is also known for writing several textbooks on physical chemistry
, including Mathematical preparation for physical chemistry (1928), Experimental physical chemistry, co-authored with J. Howard Mathews and John Warren (1934), Chemical Kinetics (1938), Physical Chemistry, co-authored with Robert Alberty
(1957). Some of these books went through many subsequent editions until about 1980.
He was awarded the Priestley Medal
in 1957.
Daniels died on June 23, 1972 from complications from liver cancer
. He was survived by his wife, four children, and twelve grandchildren.
that can be derived from it, as well as the electrical energy that could be derived from it. As Director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
's Solar Energy Laboratory, he explored such areas of practical application as cooking
, space heating, agricultural and industrial drying, distillation
, cooling and refrigeration
, and photo- and thermo-electric conversion, and he was also interested in energy storage
. In particular, he believed there were many practical applications of solar energy for ready use in the developing world.
Dr. Daniels was active with the Association for Applied Solar Energy in the mid-1950s. He suggested that AFASE embark upon the publication of a scientific journal, and the first issue of The Journal of Solar Energy Science and Engineering appeared in January, 1957. Later, as Professor Emeritus of Chemistry of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he led a group of solar scientists who proposed that AFASE be reorganized, that its directors and officers be elected by the membership, and that the name be changed to "The Solar Energy Society” – all of which was done.
One of his classic books is Direct Use of the Sun's Energy, published by Yale University Press
in 1964. The book was reprinted in a mass market edition in 1974 by Ballantine Books
, after the 1973 oil crisis
, and was described as "The best book on solar energy that I know of" by the Whole Earth Catalog
's Steve Baer
.
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
, is considered one of the pioneers of the modern direct use of solar energy.
Biography
Daniels was born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
on March 8, 1889. Daniels matured as a man with a religious and altruistic outlook, something nurtured from the time he entered Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
at age four in Westminster Presbyterian Church
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Westminster Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its current location is the third location in downtown in over 140 years.-History:...
. He began day school in 1895 at the Kenwood
Kenwood
- Places :England* Kenwood , a part of Hampstead Heath, London, the location of** Kenwood House* Kenwood, in the parish of Kenton, Devon* Kenwood, St. George's Hill, John Lennon's home in Weybridge, SurreyUnited States* Kenwood, California...
School and then on to Douglas School. Early on he enjoyed history, painting, and geography, and ironically disliked arithmetic. He also enjoyed camping, baseball, and telegraphy. As a boy, he was fascinated with Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
, Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
, and John Charles Fields
John Charles Fields
John Charles Fields, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian mathematician and the founder of the Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics...
. He decided early that he wanted to be an electrician and inventor. He attended Central and East Side high schools. By this point he liked chemistry and physics, but equally enjoyed “Manual Training." He took an interest in electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
s, stamp collecting
Stamp collecting
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is one of the world's most popular hobbies, with the number of collectors in the United States alone estimated to be over 20 million.- Collecting :...
, collecting bird's eggs, and caring for pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
s. His favorite book was titled Experimental Science.
In 1906 he entered the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, majoring in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and adding to the usual mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and analytical courses some courses in botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and scientific German, studying assiduously. He sometimes worked summers as a railroad surveyor. He took his degree in chemistry in 1910. The following year he spent half his time in teaching and received an M.S. for graduate work in physical chemistry
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
. He entered Harvard in 1911, paying for his studies partly through a teaching fellowship, and received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1914, his research having been a further inquiry into the relationship between electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
. Other prominent contemporaries of Daniels from Harvard Graduate School
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the academic unit responsible for many post-baccalaureate degree programs offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University...
were E.K. Bolton, Roger Adams
Roger Adams
Roger Adams was an American organic chemist. He is best-known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, and his work did much to determine the composition of naturally occurring substances such as complex vegetable oils and plant alkaloids...
, Frank C. Whitmore
Frank C. Whitmore
Frank Clifford Whitmore , nicknamed "Rocky", was a prominent chemist who submitted significant evidence for the existence of carbocation mechanisms in organic chemistry.He was born in 1887 in the town of North Attleborough, Massachusetts....
, James B. Sumner
James B. Sumner
James Batcheller Sumner was an American chemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 with John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley.-Biography:...
and James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant
James Bryant Conant was a chemist, educational administrator, and government official. As thePresident of Harvard University he reformed it as a research institution.-Biography :...
.
In the summer of 1912, Daniels had visited England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. After earning his Ph.D., Harvard would have sent him on a traveling fellowship in Europe, but World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out. So instead he accepted a position as instructor at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...
, where, besides teaching, he found he had considerable time for research in calorimetry
Calorimetry
Calorimetry is the science of measuring the heat of chemical reactions or physical changes. Calorimetry is performed with a calorimeter. The word calorimetry is derived from the Latin word calor, meaning heat...
, for which he received a grant from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
.
Daniels was director of the Metallurgical Laboratory of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
and, after the war, became concerned to limit or stop the nuclear arms race
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
. In that regard, he became a Board Member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical online magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction...
In 1947 Daniels conceived the pebble bed reactor
Pebble bed reactor
The pebble bed reactor is a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled, nuclear reactor. It is a type of very high temperature reactor , one of the six classes of nuclear reactors in the Generation IV initiative...
, in which helium rises through fissioning uranium oxide or carbide pebbles and cools them by carrying away heat for power production. The "Daniels' pile" was an early version of the later high-temperature gas-cooled reactor developed further at ORNL, and now being put into production around the world.
Daniels is also known for writing several textbooks on physical chemistry
Physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic, atomic, subatomic, and particulate phenomena in chemical systems in terms of physical laws and concepts...
, including Mathematical preparation for physical chemistry (1928), Experimental physical chemistry, co-authored with J. Howard Mathews and John Warren (1934), Chemical Kinetics (1938), Physical Chemistry, co-authored with Robert Alberty
Robert Alberty
Robert Arnold Alberty is an American biophysical chemist, Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences....
(1957). Some of these books went through many subsequent editions until about 1980.
He was awarded the Priestley Medal
Priestley Medal
The Priestley Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society and is awarded for distinguished service in the field of chemistry. Established in 1922, the award is named after Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen who immigrated to the United States of America in 1794...
in 1957.
Daniels died on June 23, 1972 from complications from liver cancer
Liver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...
. He was survived by his wife, four children, and twelve grandchildren.
Involvement with solar energy
Dr. Daniels became a leading American expert on the principles involved with the practical utilization of solar energy. He pursued understanding of the heat and the convectionConvection
Convection is the movement of molecules within fluids and rheids. It cannot take place in solids, since neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion can take place in solids....
that can be derived from it, as well as the electrical energy that could be derived from it. As Director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
's Solar Energy Laboratory, he explored such areas of practical application as cooking
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
, space heating, agricultural and industrial drying, distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
, cooling and refrigeration
Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. This work is traditionally done by mechanical work, but can also be done by magnetism, laser or other means...
, and photo- and thermo-electric conversion, and he was also interested in energy storage
Energy storage
Energy storage is accomplished by devices or physical media that store some form of energy to perform some useful operation at a later time. A device that stores energy is sometimes called an accumulator....
. In particular, he believed there were many practical applications of solar energy for ready use in the developing world.
Dr. Daniels was active with the Association for Applied Solar Energy in the mid-1950s. He suggested that AFASE embark upon the publication of a scientific journal, and the first issue of The Journal of Solar Energy Science and Engineering appeared in January, 1957. Later, as Professor Emeritus of Chemistry of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he led a group of solar scientists who proposed that AFASE be reorganized, that its directors and officers be elected by the membership, and that the name be changed to "The Solar Energy Society” – all of which was done.
One of his classic books is Direct Use of the Sun's Energy, published by Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
in 1964. The book was reprinted in a mass market edition in 1974 by Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...
, after the 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, and was described as "The best book on solar energy that I know of" by the Whole Earth Catalog
Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998...
's Steve Baer
Steve Baer
Steve Baer is an American inventor and solar and residential designer. Baer has served on the board of directors of the U.S. Section of the International Solar Energy Society, and on the board of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. He is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, President, and...
.