Paul Dyer Merica (March 17, 1889 – October 20, 1957) was an American

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

, president of the International Nickel Company of Canada Ltd., now

Vale Limited Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...

, inventor, and recipient of the 1938

John Fritz Medal The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived betw ...

Zay Jeffries Zay Jeffries (April 22, 1888 – May 21, 1965) was an American mining engineer, metallurgist, consulting engineer and recipient of the 1946 John Fritz Medal.W.D. Nix.Zay Jeffries" National Academy of Sciences. 2013 Biography Jeffries was born ...

.
Paul Dyer Merica, March 17, 1889 - October 20, 1957
" in: ''Biographical Memoir.'' National Academy of Sciences, 1959. p. 224-240.

Biography

Youth and education

Merica was born in

Warsaw, Indiana Warsaw is a city in and the county seat of Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. Warsaw has a population of 13,559 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. Warsaw also borders a smaller town, Winona Lake. Etymology Warsaw, named after the capital of P ...

, to Charles Oliver Merica and Alice White Merica. After attending the

Warsaw Community High School Warsaw Community High School is a public high school located in Warsaw, Indiana, the county seat of Kosciusko County Kosciusko County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. At the 2020 United States Census, its population was 80,240. The ...

and three years at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

, he obtained his AB from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1907. After his graduation Merica was instructor in physics University of Wisconsin for a year, and teacher of "Western subjects" at the Chekiang Provincial College at Hangchow, China for another two years. From 1910 to 1914 he continued his studies at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

, where he obtained his PhD in 1914.

Career and acknowledgement

After graduation back in the States he was research physicist at the

United States Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

for five years.David R. Lide (2001),
A Century of Excellence in Measurements, Standards, and Technology
'' p. 15. In 1919 he moved into the industry to the International Nickel Company, He started as Director research, and worked his way up to Technical assistant to president in 1929, and furthermore to executive vice president, president and director from 1951 until his retirement in 1955. In 1938 Merica was awarded the

, in 1941 the platinum medal of the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

, in 1942 the

Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It was founded in 1914 by Samuel Insull Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a Bri ...

by the Franklin Institute, and in 1951 the gold medal of the

American Society for Metals ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is an association of materials-centric engineers and scientists. ASM provides several information resources, including technical books, various digital databases, and ASM Han ...

. On October 29, 1964, the International Nickel Company dedicated a new research center, called the Paul D. Merica Research Laboratory, in Sterling Forest, New York.

Publications

* Paul Dyer Merica. ''Ueber Beziehungen zwischen den mechanischen und den magnetischen Eigenschaften einiger Metalle bei elastischen und plastischen Formänderungen,'' 1914. * George Kimball Burgess, Paul Dyer Merica. ''An investigation of fusible tin boiler plugs,'' 1915. * Paul Dyer Merica. ''A simplification of the inverse-rate method for thermal analysis,'' 1919. * Paul Dyer Merica, Romaine George Waltenberg. ''Malleability and metallography of nickel,'' 1925. * Paul Dyer Merica. "Personalities in Industry," ''Scientific American.'' July 1, 1938. * Paul Dyer Merica. ''Charles Holmes Herty, Jr., 1896-1953,'' 1958. ;Patents, a selection *
Patent US1811696 - Carbon-free metal
" 1931 *
Patent US2048163 - Iron-nickel-titanium alloy
" 1936. *
Patent US2048164 - Method of treating alloys
" 1936.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merica, Paul Dyer 1889 births 1957 deaths Engineers from Indiana American metallurgists DePauw University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni People from Warsaw, Indiana John Fritz Medal recipients 20th-century American inventors