Wendell Earl Dunn Jr. (August 30, 1922 – December 24, 2007) was an American

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

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 ...

, and inventor. His technologies for high temperature chlorination, gold, tantalum and titanium extraction are still widely used.

Early years

Dunn was the first son of educator Wendell E. Dunn, for many years principal of Forest Park High School in Baltimore, and brother of conductor Thomas Dunn. A graduate of

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a classical liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C ...

and

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, Dunn was also awarded a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins. After completing the Harvard/MIT V-12 program in 1944, he was engaged in aircraft terrain avoidance

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

research in both the U.S. and

occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sove ...

. Dunn served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

until 1946.

Chemical research

In 1950 Dunn was a key member of the research and development team at E.I. DuPont de Nemours in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

which developed an improved process for the production of high-purity

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound derived from titanium with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or Colour Index Internationa ...

for use as a paint pigment. He filed his first sole-inventor U.S. patent in 1954. He remained with the firm for 19 years during which time this process grew to become the dominant technology worldwide. In 1968 Dunn left DuPont to form his own contract research and development firm in Delaware and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. He worked closely for several years with a major Australian mining house,

Peko-Wallsend Peko-Wallsend was an Australian mining company. History Peko-Wallsend was founded in 1961 when Peko Mines merged with Wallsend Investments. In 1962 Peko-Wallsend purchased Toll Transport. In January 1968, Peko-Wallsend acquired a majority share ...

, to develop a technology to produce a low-cost titanium process feedstock. Thereafter, Dunn returned to

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and for the next three decades made significant contributions to the field of high-temperature chlorination of metal ores. Between 1975 and 1995 Dunn consulted to international corporations

Reynolds Metals Reynolds Group Holdings was a New Zealand–based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acqu ...

Kerr-McGee The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an American energy company involved in oil exploration, production of crude oil, natural gas, perchlorate and uranium mining and milling in various countries. On June 23, 2006, Anadarko Petroleu ...

and DuPont, among others and performed R&D which formed the bases for several start-up ventures in South Dakota and beyond. He worked with the Lien Brothers and others in the

Rapid City Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed. It is the second-mo ...

area to develop processes for the extraction of ultra-pure

niobium Niobium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral hardness, Mohs h ...

from ore, and tantalum metals for use in electronic applications, and for the efficient separation and recovery of gold from low-grade ore and scrap. From the late-1980s until the late-1990s Dunn joined with European and Asian interests to develop a process for low-cost titanium-based pigments, and worked in India for months at a time. He was an adjunct faculty member in metallurgy at the

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers b ...

, and was working on a patent application at the time of his death. Dunn had a whimsical side, and in 1979 penned a political satire, ''The Sex Tax.''''The Sex Tax'' complete text
/ref> Dunn is interred in

Green Mount Cemetery Green Mount Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established on March 15, 1838, and dedicated on July 13, 1839, it is noted for the large number of historical figures interred in its grounds as well as ma ...

in Baltimore. He was the nephew of civil engineer Everett Dunn.

References

Selected patents

5,004,500 Chlorination process for recovering gold values from gold alloys Filed: February 13, 1989
4,390,400 Aluminum chloride addition to electrolytic cells Filed: May 26, 1981
4,389,391 Process for beneficiating titaniferous ores Filed: June 28, 1981
4,378,337 Still heating process for purifying aluminum chloride Filed: June 1, 1982
4,363,789 Alumina production via aluminum chloride oxidation Filed: April 20, 1981
4,355,008 Chlorination process Filed: April 20, 1981
4,355,007 Two stage chlorination process for aluminum value containing source Filed: April 20, 1981
4,353,740 Chlorine extraction of gold Filed: September 11, 1981
4,349,516 Process for treating the gas stream from an aluminum value chlorination process Filed: April 20, 1981
4,331,645 Alumina from alkali metal-aluminum chloride complexes Filed: April 20, 1981
4,331,637 Process for purifying aluminum chloride Filed: April 20, 1981
4,211,755 Process for beneficiating titaniferous ores Filed: March 3, 1975
4,085,189 Process for recycle beneficiation of titaniferous ores Filed: May 21, 1976
4,081,507 Process for removing chemisorbed and interstitial chlorine and chlorides from a hot titanium dioxide beneficiate-carbon mixture
Filed October 3, 1975
3,960,203 Fluidized bed cooler Filed: April 9, 1973
3,929,501 Novel titanium dioxide composition Filed: June 4, 1973
3,887,694 Production of chlorine Filed: December 22, 1972
3,865,920 Process for beneficiating a titaniferous ore and production of chlorine and iron oxide Filed: March 14, 1973
3,729,543 Process for preparing alkali-metal tetra-chloroferrate Filed: January 21, 1971
3,724,171 Annular flow condenser Filed: April 29, 1971
3,713,781 Cross-flow fluid bed reactor Filed: October 21, 1970
3,699,206 Process for beneficiation of titaniferous ores Filed: March 23, 1970
3,683,590 Dual flue condenser Filed: April 29, 1971
3,376,112 Production of chlorine through oxidation of film of ferric chloride salt complex Filed Aug 3, 1965
3,153,572 Process for the production of niobium pentachloride Filed Jun 1, 1961
3,107,144 Process for converting

niobium oxychloride Niobium oxychloride is the inorganic compound with the formula NbOCl3. It is a white, crystalline, diamagnetic solid. It is often found as an impurity in samples of niobium pentachloride, a common reagent in niobium chemistry. Structure In the s ...

to niobium pentachloride Filed Nov 4, 1960
3,009,773 Chlorination of

Filed Mar 31, 1958
2,856,264 Charging fluidizing gas into fluidized bed reactor Filed Apr 9, 1954

External links

Wendell E. Dunn Jr. on Google Patent

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Wendell E. 20th-century American chemists Johns Hopkins University alumni Harvard University people American chemical engineers American metallurgists 1922 births 2007 deaths Scientists from Baltimore Writers from Maryland American humorists American political writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American male writers Inventors from Maryland