Lloyd A. Quarterman from “Atom Scientists
Lloyd Albert Quarterman
May 31, 1918 – July 1982
WWII Manhattan Project Chemist
Fluoride Chemist and Nuclear Chemist
Spectroscopist~ studying the interaction between matter and
radiation
Developed a unique corrosion-resistant window (1967)
Quarterman played a significant role in the U.S. scientific team that developed the first nuclear reactor in the 1940s and thus brought the world into the atomic age.
Accomplishments
Society of Applied Spectroscopy (national officer)
Scientific Research Society of America
American Chemical Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Society of Sigma Chi
Honorary Doctorate of Science from St. Augustine’s College
1971.After he succeeded with the “first discovery trial” of the diamond window in 1967.
Certificate of Recognition, U.S. War Department, 1945.
Quaterman was born on May 31, 1918, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He excelled in his early years of school and was a true scholar. He attended St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1943.
Quarterman was hired to work on the Manhattan Project. He was chiefly responsible for the design and construction of a special distillation system for purifying large quantities of hydrogen fluoride.
Explanation of process :
This hydrogen fluoride would be used to separate the Uranium isotope U-235 for the construction of the weapons for the atomic bombs. The U-235 that Quarterman helped accumulate was used to make LITTLE BOY, the uranium bomb that exploded over HIROSHIMA, JAPAN in 1945. After the war, Quarterman was presented with a certificate of recognition for his development of the Atom Bomb and his contribution to the conclusion of World War II.
There were two laboratories: one at the University of Chicago and one at Columbia University. At the University of Chicago, Quarterman worked under Dr. Enrico Fermi, a notable Italian physicist, while at Columbia, he worked under Albert Einstein. After the war, Quarterman worked at the then-newly established Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, where he continued to work for over 30 years. At Argonne, Quarterman was an assistant to the associate research scientist and chemist from 1943 to 1949. He assisted with the first Nuclear reactor for atomic-powered submarines. Quarterman graduated from Northwestern University with a Master of Science Degree in 1952. After graduating, Quarterman continued his work with F, synthesizing new compounds by reacting F with noble gases, especially xenon. These compounds were surprising because noble gases were considered unable to combine with other atoms at the time. After several years of influential work, Lloyd Quarterman received an honorary Ph.D. in chemistry from St. Augustine’s College in 1971. He was a member of the Chicago chapter of the NAACP and gave frequent talks inspiring African Americans to pursue education in the sciences.
Lloyd Quarterman died at Billings Hospital in Chicago, Illinois in July of 1982 at the age of 64 due to a paralyzing illness. Before his death, he had instructed that his body be used for scientific research Lloyd Quaterman Passed away in the month of July 1982 no date has been located even when I did a death certificate research no records have shown any information to date.