Larned B. Asprey
Encyclopedia
Larned "Larry" Brown Asprey (March 19, 1919 – March 6, 2005) was an American chemist
noted for his work on actinide
and rare earth
and fluoride
chemistry, and for his contributions to nuclear chemistry on the Manhattan project
and later.
Asprey was born in Sioux City, Iowa; his parents were Gladys Brown Asprey and Peter Asprey Jr.
He had an older sister and a younger brother: mathematician
and computer scientist
Winifred Asprey
(1917–2007), founder of Vassar College
's computer science department,
and military historian and writer Robert B. Asprey
(1923–2009).
Asprey received a chemistry
B.S. at Iowa State University
in 1940.
When he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944, Asprey was assigned to the Manhattan Project
's effort to separate and purify plutonium under Glenn T. Seaborg
at the University of Chicago
's Metallurgical Laboratory
. There with Herbert H. Anderson he developed the PUREX
process (Plutonium–URanium EXtraction); their patent "Solvent Extraction Process for Plutonium" was filed in 1947.
In July, 1945, Asprey was among the atomic-bomb scientists who signed the Szilárd petition
to ask President Truman to exercise extreme care in any decision to use the atomic bomb in the war.
In 1945, Asprey and Winston Manning measured the half-life of the synthetic isotope 95242 at about 16 hours; the transient isotope was made by irradiating an early sample of the as-yet-unnamed relatively stable 95241 with neutrons. The product after beta decay
was yet another new element, 96242. These new unnamed elements created in the Met Lab in Chicago were announced to the world by Glenn Seaborg on Nov. 11, 1945, on the radio show Quiz Kids. Elements 95 and 96, originally called "pandemonium" and "delirium", were eventually named americium
and curium
by analogy with the chemically related elements europium
and gadolinium
. Asprey's later discovery, with S. E. Stephanou and Robert A. Penneman at Los Alamos, of the hexapositive, fluoride-soluble oxidation state of americium was one of the keys to the subsequent discovery of element 97, berkelium
, at Berkeley, California
in 1949.
While working in Chicago, he met his future wife Margaret Williams, who also worked on the Manhattan Project there, and with whom he later had seven children.
After receiving his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley
, and the birth of their first son in 1949, they moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico
, to work for the Los Alamos National Laboratory
, where he spent the rest of his career. He retired in 1986 after conducting more than thirty-five years of research on actinide
s and lanthanide
s and related chemistry.
Asprey was the third awardee of the American Chemical Society
's Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award, in 1986.
Larry's wife Margaret "Marge" W. Asprey also worked at Los Alamos, and was recognized for her work by the American Nuclear Society
with the Walter H. Zinn Award in 2005, shortly after Larry's death.
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
noted for his work on actinide
Actinide
The actinide or actinoid series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium.The actinide series derives its name from the group 3 element actinium...
and rare earth
Rare earth element
As defined by IUPAC, rare earth elements or rare earth metals are a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium...
and fluoride
Fluoride
Fluoride is the anion F−, the reduced form of fluorine when as an ion and when bonded to another element. Both organofluorine compounds and inorganic fluorine containing compounds are called fluorides. Fluoride, like other halides, is a monovalent ion . Its compounds often have properties that are...
chemistry, and for his contributions to nuclear chemistry on 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 later.
Asprey was born in Sioux City, Iowa; his parents were Gladys Brown Asprey and Peter Asprey Jr.
He had an older sister and a younger brother: mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
Winifred Asprey
Winifred Asprey
Winifred "Tim" Alice Asprey was an American mathematician and computer scientist. She was one of only around 200 women to earn PhDs in mathematics from American universities during the 1940s, a period of women's underrepresentation in mathematics at this level.She was involved in developing the...
(1917–2007), founder of Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
's computer science department,
and military historian and writer Robert B. Asprey
Robert B. Asprey
Robert Brown Asprey was an American military historian and author, noted for twelve books on military history published from 1967 through 2001....
(1923–2009).
Asprey received a 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....
B.S. at Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
in 1940.
When he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1944, Asprey was assigned to 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...
's effort to separate and purify plutonium under Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn T. Seaborg
Glenn Theodore Seaborg was an American scientist who won the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements", contributed to the discovery and isolation of ten elements, and developed the actinide concept, which led to the current arrangement of the...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
's Metallurgical Laboratory
Metallurgical Laboratory
The Metallurgical Laboratory or "Met Lab" at the University of Chicago was part of the World War II–era Manhattan Project, created by the United States to develop an atomic bomb...
. There with Herbert H. Anderson he developed the PUREX
PUREX
PUREX is an acronym standing for Plutonium - URanium EXtraction — de facto standard aqueous nuclear reprocessing method for the recovery of uranium and plutonium from used nuclear fuel. It is based on liquid-liquid extraction ion-exchange.The PUREX process was invented by Herbert H. Anderson and...
process (Plutonium–URanium EXtraction); their patent "Solvent Extraction Process for Plutonium" was filed in 1947.
In July, 1945, Asprey was among the atomic-bomb scientists who signed the Szilárd petition
Szilárd petition
The Szilárd petition, drafted by scientist Leó Szilárd, was signed by 155 scientists working on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois. It was circulated in July 1945 and asked President Harry S. Truman to consider an observed...
to ask President Truman to exercise extreme care in any decision to use the atomic bomb in the war.
In 1945, Asprey and Winston Manning measured the half-life of the synthetic isotope 95242 at about 16 hours; the transient isotope was made by irradiating an early sample of the as-yet-unnamed relatively stable 95241 with neutrons. The product after beta decay
Beta decay
In nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
was yet another new element, 96242. These new unnamed elements created in the Met Lab in Chicago were announced to the world by Glenn Seaborg on Nov. 11, 1945, on the radio show Quiz Kids. Elements 95 and 96, originally called "pandemonium" and "delirium", were eventually named americium
Americium
Americium is a synthetic element that has the symbol Am and atomic number 95. This transuranic element of the actinide series is located in the periodic table below the lanthanide element europium, and thus by analogy was named after another continent, America.Americium was first produced in 1944...
and curium
Curium
Curium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This radioactive transuranic element of the actinide series was named after Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie. Curium was first intentionally produced and identified in summer 1944 by the group of...
by analogy with the chemically related elements europium
Europium
Europium is a chemical element with the symbol Eu and atomic number 63. It is named after the continent of Europe. It is a moderately hard silvery metal which readily oxidizes in air and water...
and gadolinium
Gadolinium
Gadolinium is a chemical element with the symbol Gd and atomic number 64. It is a silvery-white, malleable and ductile rare-earth metal. It is found in nature only in combined form. Gadolinium was first detected spectroscopically in 1880 by de Marignac who separated its oxide and is credited with...
. Asprey's later discovery, with S. E. Stephanou and Robert A. Penneman at Los Alamos, of the hexapositive, fluoride-soluble oxidation state of americium was one of the keys to the subsequent discovery of element 97, berkelium
Berkelium
Berkelium , is a synthetic element with the symbol Bk and atomic number 97, a member of the actinide and transuranium element series. It is named after the city of Berkeley, California, the location of the University of California Radiation Laboratory where it was discovered in December 1949...
, at Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
in 1949.
While working in Chicago, he met his future wife Margaret Williams, who also worked on the Manhattan Project there, and with whom he later had seven children.
After receiving his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, and the birth of their first son in 1949, they moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
, to work for the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
, where he spent the rest of his career. He retired in 1986 after conducting more than thirty-five years of research on actinide
Actinide
The actinide or actinoid series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium.The actinide series derives its name from the group 3 element actinium...
s and lanthanide
Lanthanide
The lanthanide or lanthanoid series comprises the fifteen metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, from lanthanum through lutetium...
s and related chemistry.
Asprey was the third awardee of the American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 161,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical...
's Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award, in 1986.
Larry's wife Margaret "Marge" W. Asprey also worked at Los Alamos, and was recognized for her work by the American Nuclear Society
American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society is an international, not-for-profit 501 scientific and educational organization with a membership of approximately 11,000 scientists, engineers, educators, students, and other associate members. Approximately 900 members live outside the United States in 40 countries....
with the Walter H. Zinn Award in 2005, shortly after Larry's death.