Raymond K. Sheline (March 31, 1922 – February 10, 2016) was a member of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

and spent much of his career as a professor in chemistry and physics at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

. Sheline's research focused on spectroscopic studies of atomic nuclei and molecular structures.

Education and career

Sheline was born in

Port Clinton, Ohio Port Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Ottawa County, located at the mouth of the Portage River on Lake Erie, about 44 miles east of Toledo. The population was 6,056 at the 2010 census. The city has been nicknamed the "Walleye Capit ...

and a graduate of Woodward High School. He studied at Bethany College in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, where he graduated in 1943. From 1943 till 1945, he worked on the Manhattan Project as a chemist at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Sheline went to graduate school at

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 ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and obtained his PhD in chemistry there in 1949 under the supervision of

Kenneth Pitzer Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer (January 6, 1914 – December 26, 1997) was an American physical and theoretical chemist, educator, and university president. He was described as "one of the most influential physical chemists of his era" whose work "sp ...

. His PhD thesis dealt with

vibrational spectroscopy Infrared spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy or vibrational spectroscopy) is the measurement of the interaction of infrared radiation with matter by absorption, emission, or reflection. It is used to study and identify chemical substances or function ...

of polyatomic molecules. Sheline taught at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

for two years after his PhD. From 1951 to 1999, Sheline was a professor in chemistry and physics at Florida State University. Between 1966 and 1967, he was named Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor. Sheline was a three-time

Guggenheim fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

and a Fulbright scholar.

Personal life

Sheline married Yvonne Sheline in 1951, they have seven children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheline, Raymond 1922 births 2016 deaths People from Port Clinton, Ohio Spectroscopists Bethany College (West Virginia) alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Manhattan Project people Florida State University faculty University of Chicago faculty Fulbright alumni Nuclear physicists Chemical physicists