Oral history interview with Fred W. McLafferty
- 2007-Jan-22 (First session)
- 2007-Jan-23 (Second session)
Oral history interview with Fred W. McLafferty
- 2007-Jan-22 (First session)
- 2007-Jan-23 (Second session)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.McLafferty discusses his upbringing as he continued his education in chemistry in an accelerated degree program at the University of Nebraska during World War II. Having enlisted in the war and after months of combat, McLafferty returned to Nebraska to earn his Master's degree and later his doctoral degree at Cornell University. Shifting his interests to organic chemistry, he entered industry at the Dow Chemical Company where he was introduced to mass spectrometry, a field that figures prominently in much of McLafferty's collaborations and scientific work. Eventually, he moved into academia, teaching and researching at Purdue University and then Cornell University.
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About the Interviewer
Michael A. Grayson is a member of the Mass Spectrometry Research Resource at Washington University in St. Louis. He received his BS degree in physics from St. Louis University in 1963 and his MS in physics from the University of Missouri at Rolla in 1965. He is the author of over 45 papers in the scientific literature. Before joining the Research Resource, he was a staff scientist at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratory. While completing his undergraduate and graduate education, he worked at Monsanto Company in St. Louis, where he learned the art and science of mass spectrometry. Grayson is a member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), and has served many different positions within that organization. He has served on the Board of Trustees of CHF and is currently a member of CHF's Heritage Council. He currently pursues his interest in the history of mass spectrometry by recording oral histories, assisting in the collection of papers, and researching the early history of the field.
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| Oral history number | 0352 |
Related Items
Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | University of Nebraska | BS | Chemistry |
| 1947 | University of Nebraska | MS | |
| 1950 | Cornell University | PhD |
Professional Experience
University of Iowa
- 1950 Post-Doctorate under Ralph Shriner
Dow Chemical Company
- 1950 to 1956 In charge of mass spectrometry and gas chromatography
- 1956 to 1964 First Director of Eastern Research Laboratory, Basic Research
Purdue University
- 1964 to 1968 Professor of Chemistry
Cornell University
- 1968 to 2008 Professor of Chemistry
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1972 | American Chemical Society Award in Chemical Instrumentation |
| 1975 | Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Award |
| 1981 | American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry |
| 1983 | Honorary DSc degree, University of Nebraska |
| 1984 | New York Section- American Chemical Society Nichols Gold Medal |
| 1985 | International Mass Spectrometry Society J. J. Thomson Gold Medal |
| 1985 | Cincinnati Section- American Chemical Society Oesper Award |
| 1985 | The Association of Analytical Chemistry Award |
| 1986 | East Tennessee Section- American Chemical Society S. C. Lind Award |
| 1987 | Ohio State University W. L. Evans Award |
| 1987 | Honorary DSc degree, The University of Liège |
| 1989 | University of Naples Gold Medal |
| 1989 | American Chemical Society Award in Mass Spectrometry |
| 1992 | Royal Society of Chemists Robert Boyle Gold Medal |
| 1994 | Pioneer in Analytical Instrumentation Award |
| 1995 | Honorary DSc degree, Purdue University |
| 1996 | American Institute of Chemistry Chemical Pioneer Award |
| 1997 | Utrecht University J. M. Bijvoet Medal |
| 1999 | Czech Academy of Sciences J. Heyrovsky Medal |
| 2000 | Italian Chemical Society G. Natta Gold Medal |
| 2001 | Swedish Chemical Society Torbern Bergman Medal |
| 2003 | American Society of Mass Spectrometry Award for Distinguished Contributions to Mass Spectrometry |
| 2004 | French Chemical Society Lavoisier Medal |
| 2006 | International Association of Protein Structure Analysis and Proteomics Pehr Edman Award |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.