Oral history interview with Jean H. Futrell
- 2012-Oct-28 (First session)
- 2012-Oct-29 (Second session)
Oral history interview with Jean H. Futrell
- 2012-Oct-28 (First session)
- 2012-Oct-29 (Second session)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Jean H. Futrell was born in Grant Parish, Louisiana. He majored in chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, and also enrolled in the Air Force ROTC. Futrell attended the University of California at Berkeley for graduate school, where his thesis research was in radiation chemistry. He was introduced to mass spectrometry as an analytical technique, playing a vital role in Futrell’s research. After graduating, Futrell was a radiation chemist exploring applications of radiation processing of petroleum fractions. Required to complete his military service obligation, he was assigned to the Aerospace Research Laboratory and published more than twenty papers. Futrell accepted an appointment as Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah, influenced by the fundamental theory underlying mass. Futrell continued to build his own versions of spectrometers as unique research tools for exploring the frontiers of ion chemistry. In 1987 Futrell accepted the position of Department Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. In 1998 Futrell was recruited by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to lead the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory as Director. In 2013 he retired and became the first Battelle Fellow Emeritus at PNNL.
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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.
Institutional location
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| Oral history number | 0706 |
Related Items
Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Louisiana Tech University | BA | Chemical Engineering |
| 1958 | University of California, Berkeley | PhD | Physical Chemistry |
Professional Experience
Exxon Mobil Research Center
- 1958 to 1959 Research Scientist
United States. Air Force
- 1959 to 1961 Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, First Lieutenant and Captain
- 1961 to 1966 Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Senior Scientist, Aerospace Research Laboratories
University of Utah
- 1966 to 1967 Associate Professor, Chemistry
- 1967 to 1986 Professor, Chemistry
University of Delaware
- 1986 to 1990 Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- 1986 to 1997 Chair, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- 1990 to 1998 Willis F. Harrington Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- 1993 to 1998 Professor, Chemical Engineering
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- 1998 to 2002 Director
- 2002 to 2013 Battelle Fellow
- 2013 Battelle Fellow Emeritus
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1995 | American Chemical Society Delaware Section Research Award |
| 2004 | First American honored by special issue of the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Honor Symposium in Konstanz, Germany |
| 2006 | PNNL Director's Award for Lifetime Achievement in Science and Technology |
| 2007 | Honor issue of International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Physics |
| 2007 | Frank H. Field and Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry by the American Chemical Society in Mass Spectrometry |
| 2009 | Elected to the Inaugural Class of American Chemical Society Fellows |
| 2017 | International Symposium on Atomic and Surface Physics Erwin Schrödinger Gold Medal |
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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.