Austin L. Wahrhaftig
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Austin Levy Wahrhaftig (May 5, 1917 – November 11, 1997) was an American
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
and mass spectrometrist known for his development of the quasi-equilibrium theory of fragmentation of
molecular ion Mass spectral interpretation is the method employed to identify the chemical formula, characteristic fragment patterns and possible fragment ions from the mass spectra. Mass spectra is a plot of relative abundance against mass-to-charge ratio. It i ...
s. The Wahrhaftig diagram that illustrates the relationship between internal energy and
unimolecular In chemistry, molecularity is the number of molecules that come together to react in an elementary (single-step) reactionAtkins, P.; de Paula, J. Physical Chemistry. Oxford University Press, 2014 and is equal to the sum of stoichiometric coeffici ...
ion decomposition is named after him.


Early life and education

Wahrhaftig was born in
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
, where he attended grade school, high school, and two years at
Sacramento Junior College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a Public college, public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission ...
. He attended the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
where he did undergraduate research with Joel Hildebrand and received an A.B. in chemistry in 1938. He went to graduate school at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
where he worked under Richard M. Badger and
Verner Schomaker Verner may refer to: * Verner (name), a given name and a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Verner, Ontario, a town in Canada * Verner's law, historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language * Verner Motor, a Czech aircraft ...
. He received his Ph.D. in 1941. He was a research fellow at Caltech from 1941 to 1945. He then worked at the
Wright Air Development Center The Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) is an inactivated Air Force product center that designed, developed and delivered weapon systems and capabilities for U.S. Air Force, other U.S. military, allied and coalition-partner warfighters. ASC managed ...
in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...
, and as a University Fellow at the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
with Herrick L. Johnston.


Academic career

Wahrhaftig joined the faculty at the Chemistry Department at the
University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
in 1947 where he rose through the ranks and spent the rest of his career. He retired to become an emeritus professor in 1987.


References


Further reading

* 1917 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American chemists Mass spectrometrists University of California, Berkeley alumni California Institute of Technology alumni California Institute of Technology fellows University of Utah faculty {{Chemist-stub