Editing William Lipscomb (section)

==Biography==

===Overview===

Lipscomb was born in [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], to a physician father and housewife mother. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather had been physicians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grimes |first=Russell |date=18 May 2011 |title=William Nunn Lipscomb Jr (1919–2011) |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/473286a#auth-Russell_N_-Grimes-Aff1 |journal=Nature|volume=473 |issue=7347 |page=286 |doi=10.1038/473286a |pmid=21593854 |bibcode=2011Natur.473..286G }}</ref> His family moved to [[Lexington, Kentucky]] in 1920,<ref name="Nobel">{{Nobelprize|accessdate=2020-05-30}}</ref> and he lived there until he received his [[Bachelor of Science]] [[academic degree|degree]] in chemistry at the [[University of Kentucky]] in 1941. He went on to earn his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree in chemistry from the [[California Institute of Technology|California Institute of Technology (Caltech)]] in 1946.

From 1946 to 1959 he taught at the [[University of Minnesota]]. From 1959 to 1990 he was a professor of [[chemistry]] at [[Harvard University]], where he was a [[professor emeritus]] since 1990.

Lipscomb was married to the former Mary Adele Sargent from 1944 to 1983.<ref>{{cite web|author=LorraineGilmer02 |url=http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.sargent/1429/mb.ashx |title=obit fyi – Mary Adele Sargent Lipscomb, 1923 Ca. – 2007 NC – Sargent – Family History & Genealogy Message Board – Ancestry.com |publisher=Boards.ancestry.com |date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2012-02-01}}</ref> They had three children, one of whom lived only a few hours.
He married Jean Evans in 1983.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-william-lipscomb-20110416-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519091851/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/16/local/la-me-william-lipscomb-20110416 |url-status=live |archive-date=May 19, 2011 |title=OBITUARY: William N. Lipscomb dies at 91; won Nobel Prize in chemistry – Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=2011-04-16 |access-date=2012-02-01 |first=Thomas H. |last=Maugh II}}</ref> They had one adopted daughter.

Lipscomb resided in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] until his death in 2011 from [[pneumonia]].<ref name="Kauffman">{{cite journal
  | last =Kauffman
  | first =George B.
  |author2=Jean-Pierre Adloff
   | title =William Nunn Lipscomb Jr. (1919–2011), Nobel Laureate and Borane Chemistry Pioneer: An Obituary–Tribute
  | journal =The Chemical Educator
  | volume =16
  | pages =195–201
  | date = 19 July 2011
  | url = http://www.nesacs.org/Noticeboard/2011/LIPSCOMB_CHEM_EDUCATOR(JUL2011).pdf
  | access-date = 16 August 2011 }}</ref>

===Early years===

"My early home environment ... stressed personal responsibility and self reliance. Independence was encouraged especially in the early years when my mother taught music and when my father's medical practice occupied most of his time."

In grade school Lipscomb collected animals, insects, pets, rocks, and minerals.

Interest in astronomy led him to visitor nights at the Observatory of the University of Kentucky, where Prof. H. H. Downing gave him a copy of [[Robert Horace Baker|Baker's]] ''Astronomy.''
Lipscomb credits gaining many intuitive physics concepts from this book and from his conversations with Downing, who became Lipscomb's lifelong friend.

The young Lipscomb participated in other projects, such as [[morse code|Morse-coded]] messages over wires and [[crystal radio]] sets, with five nearby friends who became physicists, physicians, and an engineer.

Aged 12, Lipscomb was given a small Gilbert [[chemistry set]]. He expanded it by ordering apparatus and chemicals from suppliers and by using his father's privilege as a physician to purchase chemicals at the local drugstore at a discount. Lipscomb made his own fireworks and entertained visitors with color changes, odors, and explosions. His mother questioned his home chemistry hobby only once, when he attempted to isolate a large amount of [[urea]] from [[urine]].

Lipscomb credits perusing the large medical texts in his physician father's library and the influence of [[Linus Pauling]] years later to his undertaking biochemical studies in his later years.  Had Lipscomb become a physician like his father, he would have been the fourth physician in a row along the Lipscomb male line.

The source for this subsection, except as noted, is Lipscomb's autobiographical sketch.<ref name=InHonorOfWnlStructuresAndMechanisms2002/>

===Education===
Lipscomb's high-school chemistry teacher, Frederick Jones, gave Lipscomb his college books on [[organic chemistry|organic]], [[analytical chemistry|analytical]], and [[general chemistry]], and asked only that Lipscomb take the examinations.
During the class lectures, Lipscomb in the back of the classroom did research that he thought was original (but he later found was not): the preparation of [[hydrogen]] from [[sodium formate]] (or [[sodium oxalate]]) and [[sodium hydroxide]].<ref name="HS_Science_Research">{{cite web|url=http://wlipscomb.tripod.com/publications_pubs_high-school.html |title=HighSchool – Publications – Lipscomb |publisher=Wlipscomb.tripod.com |date=1937-02-25 |access-date=2012-02-01}}</ref>
He took care to include gas analyses and to search for probable [[side reaction]]s.

Lipscomb later had a high-school physics course and took first prize in the state contest on that subject.  He also became very interested in [[special relativity]].

Lipscomb attended [[University of Kentucky]] on a music scholarship. Prof. Robert H. Baker suggested that Lipscomb research the direct preparation of derivatives of [[Alcohol (chemistry)|alcohol]]s from dilute [[aqueous solution]] without first separating the alcohol and water, which led to Lipscomb's first publication.<ref name=Lipscomb1942Alcohols/>

For graduate school Lipscomb chose Caltech, which offered him a teaching assistantship in Physics at $20/month.  He turned down more money from [[Northwestern University]], which offered  a research assistantship at $150/month. [[Columbia University]] rejected Lipscomb's application in a letter written by Nobel prizewinner Prof. [[Harold Urey]].

At Caltech Lipscomb intended to study theoretical [[quantum mechanics]] with Prof. [[William Vermillion Houston|W. V. Houston]] in the physics department, but after one semester switched to the chemistry department under the
influence of Prof. Linus Pauling.  World War II work divided Lipscomb's time in graduate school beyond his other thesis work, as he partly analyzed smoke particle size, but mostly worked with [[nitroglycerin]]–[[nitrocellulose]] propellants, which involved handling vials of pure nitroglycerin on many occasions.
Brief audio clips by Lipscomb about his war work may be found from the [[#External links|External Links]] section at the bottom of this page, past the References.

The source for this subsection, except as noted, is Lipscomb's autobiographical sketch.<ref name=InHonorOfWnlStructuresAndMechanisms2002/>

<!--===Later years===

The Colonel is how Lipscomb's students referred to him, directly addressing him as Colonel.  "His first doctoral student, Murray Vernon King, pinned the label on him, and it was quickly adopted by other students, who wanted to use an appellation that showed informal respect.  ... Lipscomb's Kentucky origins as the rationale for the designation."<ref name=Katz2000/>
Some years later in 1973 Lipscomb was made a member of the [[Kentucky colonel|Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels]].<ref name=Hargittai2003/>

Lipscomb, along with several other Nobel laureates, was a regular presenter at the annual [[Ig Nobel Prize|Ig Nobel]] Awards Ceremony, last doing so (in a wheelchair) on September 30, 2010.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKnFZhCr2k ''The 20th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, September 30, 2010.'']</ref>-->