William B. Jensen (born March 25, 1948 in

Marshfield, Wisconsin Marshfield is a city in northwest Wood and southwest Marathon counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 10, Highway 13 and Highway 97. The largest city in Wood County, its population was 18,929 at t ...

) is an American chemist and chemical historian. Jensen, son of a sign painter and librarian, went to school in

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, an ...

. He became interested in chemistry at an early age and, after reading ''Discovery of the Elements'' by

Mary Elvira Weeks Mary Elvira Weeks (April 10, 1892 – June 20, 1975) was an American chemist and historian of science. Weeks was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Kansas and the first woman to be a faculty member there. Her b ...

, he also became interested in the history of chemistry. He studied chemistry at the

University of Wisconsin – Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, taking a bachelor's degree in 1970, a master's degree in 1972 and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

inorganic chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two disci ...

in 1982. He was then appointed as assistant professor of inorganic chemistry at the

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private research university in the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional ...

from 1983 to 1986, before becoming Oesper Professor of the History of Chemistry and Chemistry Education at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

. There he is also curator of the Oesper Collection on the History of Chemistry, the largest such collection in the United States after that at the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. He has an ''Ask the Historian'' column in the

Journal of Chemical Education The ''Journal of Chemical Education'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal available in both print and electronic versions. It is published by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society The American Chemical So ...

. From 1988 to 1995, he was the founding editor of the

Bulletin for the History of Chemistry The ''Bulletin for the History of Chemistry'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles on the history of chemistry. The journal is published by the History of Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. {{DEFAULTS ...

. As a chemical historian, he is primarily concerned with the history of physical and inorganic chemistry at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, as well as the history of chemical apparatus. He endeavours to bring the history of chemistry closer to more chemistry students, detached from the history of science. Jensen is an article contributor to

Encyclopedia Britannica An encyclopedia ( American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articl ...

. He is also a

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Al ...

for MeasureNet Technology Ltd. In 1982, an influential article by Jensen appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education, suggesting that group 3 in the periodic table should contain

lutetium Lutetium is a chemical element with the symbol Lu and atomic number 71. It is a silvery white metal, which resists corrosion in dry air, but not in moist air. Lutetium is the last element in the lanthanide series, and it is traditionally counted am ...

and

lawrencium Lawrencium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Lr (formerly Lw) and atomic number 103. It is named in honor of Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, a device that was used to discover many artificial radioactive elements. A radio ...

instead of

lanthanum Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is the eponym of the lanthanide series, a group of 15 similar elements between l ...

and

actinium Actinium is a chemical element with the symbol Ac and atomic number 89. It was first isolated by Friedrich Oskar Giesel in 1902, who gave it the name ''emanium''; the element got its name by being wrongly identified with a substance ...

. This question has been much debated in the literature. Jensen was a member of a 2015–2021

IUPAC The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

project to decide on the composition of group 3, chaired by

Eric Scerri Eric R. Scerri is a chemist, writer and philosopher of science of Maltese origin. He is a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles; and the founder and editor-in-chief of '' Foundations of Chemistry'', an international peer reviewed ...

; so far it has produced a provisional report (written by Scerri), which is in support of Jensen's 1982 conclusion.

Selected publications

* * * * ** *

References

External links

William B. Jensen's research while affiliated with University of Cincinnati and other places
(

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education'' ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, William B. University of Cincinnati faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni 20th-century American chemists Living people 1948 births Academic journal editors Historians of chemistry Scientists from Wisconsin American historians of science Historians from Wisconsin People from Marshfield, Wisconsin Rochester Institute of Technology faculty People involved with the periodic table