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Hamilton Perkins Cady (May 2, 1874 – May 26, 1943) was an American
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
who in 1907 in collaboration with David McFarland discovered that
helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...
could be extracted from
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
.


Early life

On May 2, 1874, Cady was born in Skiddy, Kansas. He is the son of Perkins Elijah Cady and Ella Falkenbury.


Education

After attending
Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...
,
Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota and Rice County, Minnesota, Rice counties in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 U ...
, he enrolled at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
, where he graduated in 1897 with an A.B., and in 1903 with a Ph.D. During his senior year he carried out the initial experiments on the
electrical conductance The electrical resistance of an object is a measure of its opposition to the flow of electric current. Its reciprocal quantity is , measuring the ease with which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual paral ...
of solutions of salts in liquid
ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
, opening up a new and fruitful field of research. This constituted the first step in the development of the ammonia system of compounds, a concept which, owing to the later contributions of Edward C. Franklin and Charles A. Kraus, became an outstanding feature of American chemical achievement. Following the completion of his undergraduate work he was granted a scholarship and then a fellowship at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
where he spent the years 1897–1899 in research under the direction of Wilder D. Bancroft.


Career

In 1899, Cady returned to the University of Kansas as assistant professor of chemistry and resumed his work with liquid ammonia in collaboration with Franklin, carrying out a thesis consisting of a study of concentration cells in this solvent. When Franklin was called to
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1903 Cady took over his courses in inorganic and physical chemistry at Kansas as associate professor. In 1911 he was advanced to professor and in 1920 was made chairman of the department, continuing until 1942 when he retired with the title of professor emeritus. His most notable work was in the discovery and development of the first industrial source of helium gas. In 1903 he was called on to analyze a natural gas from Dexter, Kansas, which would not burn unless continuously heated. In collaboration with David McFarland he discovered that the gas contained nearly 12% of helium. No helium in natural gas had been discovered prior to that time, although it had been found in 1894 that helium existed on the earth, and might be extracted in small quantities from the atmosphere and from minerals. Cady was a consultant when helium reserves were later found in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
and
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. In 1917 he was appointed consulting chemist to the U.S. Bureau of Mines upon the inauguration by the Bureau of experiments with regard to helium and during the
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
he did a large amount of analytical and research work, the results of which influenced the designs of the various helium plants which were constructed by the government. He also made valuable research into the limits of the inflammability of helium and
hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
mixtures and carried out a number of experiments on the permeability of
balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...
fabric by helium. In 1933 he developed a process for using chimney gases in the manufacture of a
refrigerant A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the cooling, heating, or reverse cooling/heating cycles of air conditioning systems and heat pumps, where they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Refrigerants are ...
. In 1936 he developed a new method for the accurate measurement of gaseous densities by means of a modified Westphal balance. The invention made it possible for the determination of
molecular weight A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...
of gases with a degree of speed and precision not approached by any other method. Despite his achievements in research, teaching constituted Cady's real life work. His courses won nationwide repute, and many of his former students attained eminence in scientific fields. He was co-author with Edgar Henry Summerfield Bailey of ''A Laboratory Guide to the Study of Qualitative Analysis'' (1901) and author of ''The Principles of
Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...
'' (1912), and ''General Chemistry'' (1916). He was a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
, and the
American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) 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 155,000 members at all ...
.


Personal

On June 5, 1900, Cady married Stella Cornelia Gallup, daughter of George Gallup. They had three children: Ruth Caroline, George Hamilton, and Helen Frances. On May 26, 1943, Cady died in
Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...
. Cady was 69.


References

*''The National Cyclopædia of American Biography'', Volume 39. New York: James T. White & Company (1945), 373. *


External links


Personal Papers of Hamilton P. Cady at ku.edu


{{DEFAULTSORT:Cady, Hamilton 1874 births 1943 deaths Carleton College alumni University of Kansas alumni Cornell University alumni Stanford University Department of Chemistry faculty