Marion Eppley (19 June 1883,

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from t ...

– 22 November 1960,

Oyster Bay, New York The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns that make up Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is ...

) was an American physical chemist.

Biography

Eppley received from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

his B.S. in 1906, M.A. in 1912, and Ph.D. in 1919. He married his first wife, Ethelberta Pyne ''née'' Russell, on 6 May 1909 in

Trinity Church, Princeton Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal congregation located at 33 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey. It is the largest Episcopal church in New Jersey. History Trinity was a relative latecomer in mainly Calvinistic central New Jersey. Prin ...

. During WW I, Eppley was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and after the war became a naval reserve officer. In 1941 he was recalled to active duty as a captain. His research dealt with improvements in cadmium storage batteries, as well as thermal radiation instrumentation. He directed the Eppley Research Laboratory until his death in 1960. In 1947 he established the Eppley Foundation for Research, and his will created a charitable trust to support the Foundation and the Marion Eppley Wildlife Refuge. The Eppley Foundation for Research should not be confused with the

Eppley Foundation The Eugene C. Eppley Foundation was founded in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by Omaha hotel magnate Eugene C. Eppley, the foundation was the leading benefactor for several charities and institutions in the Midwestern United States. (This is not to b ...

founded in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

by Eugene C. Eppley. Marion Eppley was awarded the

Howard N. Potts Medal The Howard N. Potts Medal was one of The Franklin Institute Awards for science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Howard N. Potts. The first Howard N. Potts Medal was awarded in ...

in 1927. For his service in WW II, he was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Institute of Chemists The American Institute of Chemists (AIC) is an organization founded in 1923 with the goal of advancing the chemistry profession in the United States. The institute is known for its yearly awards recognizing contributions of individuals in this fie ...

, the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

, and the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

. He was introduced to Newport society by his first wife, who was a member of the

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Conti ...

and

Moses Taylor Moses Taylor (January 11, 1806 – May 23, 1882) was a 19th-century New York merchant and banker and one of the wealthiest men of that century. At his death, his estate was reported to be worth $70 million, or about $ billion in today's dollars. ...

families of Newport. His first wife died in 1952 and he married his second wife in 1953. Sometime during the 1940s, Eppley purchased from the estate of Samuel Powel, a son of Colonel

John Hare Powel John Hare Powel (April 22, 1786 – June 14, 1856) was an American agriculturist, politician, art collector and philanthropist from Pennsylvania. Early life and education He was born John Powel Hare in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest ...

and a member of the

Samuel Powel Samuel Powel (October 28, 1738 – September 29, 1793) was a colonial and post-revolutionary mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since Philadelphia's mayoral office had been abolished early in the revolutionary period, Powel was the last coloni ...

family, a portrait of George Washington painted by

Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to: *Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter *Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist *Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metr ...

. Eppley and his first wife hung the painting at their house in Newport and later at their residence on Long Island. In 1972, Eppley's widow, Constance Rivington Russell Earle, who married Walter K. Earle after Captain Epley died, donated the portrait to the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

Legacy

The fish '' Parotocinclus eppleyi''

Schaefer Schaefer is an alternative spelling and cognate for the German word ''schäfer'', meaning 'shepherd', which itself descends from the Old High German '' scāphare''. Variants "Shaefer", "Schäfer" (a standardized spelling in many German-speaking ...

& Provenzano, 1993 was named in his honor.

References

External links

* * * *
Obituary
at Newspapers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eppley, Marion 1883 births 1960 deaths Princeton University alumni American physical chemists Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the IEEE Howard N. Potts Medal recipients People from West Orange, New Jersey 20th-century American chemists United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy personnel of World War II