15/5/22 Guide to the B. Smith Hopkins Papers B. Smith Hopkins Papers

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Guide to the B. Smith Hopkins Papers 1917/1963 University of Illinois Archives Overview of the Collection B. Smith Hopkins Papers 1917-19, 1923-52, 1954-56, 1961, 1963 15/5/22 Hopkins, B. Smith, 1873-1952 1.00 English University of Illinois Archives
19 Library 1408 W. Gregory Dr. Urbana, IL, URL: http://archives.library.illinois.edu Email: illiarch@illinois.edu Phone: (217) 333-0798 Fax: (217) 333-2868

Other Information:

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Biographical Information:

B. Smith Hopkins (1873-1952) was instructor (1912-14); associate (1914-17); assistant professor (1917-19); associate professor (1919-23); professor of chemistry (1923-41); head of the Division of Inorganic and General Chemistry (1923-41); and professor emeritus (1941-52) at the University of Illinois (UI). Hopkins was a noted educator and chemist who made significant contributions to the early study of rare earths.

Hopkins was born in Owosso, Michigan, on September 1, 1873, to parents Clara Sibley Norgate and Loren Hopkins. He earned a BA from Albion College (1896) and began his career as a public school teacher at Menominee Michigan Public Schools (1897-1900 and 1901-04). He went on to earn a MA from Columbia University (1901), and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1906), where he studied under chemist Harmon Northrup Morse (1848-1920). Hopkins held positions at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1906-09) and Carroll College (1909-12) before joining the faculty at UI in 1912 as an instructor of chemistry. At UI, his primary research interest became the separation, characterization, and determination of rare earths and metals. In 1926, Hopkins (with Leonard Yntema and J. Allen Harris) discovered element 61, which he named illinium. However, this discovery ultimately could not be proven and "repeated attempts failed to concentrate this element [now known as promethium] any further" ("Noyes Laboratory). His research was ultimately instrumental in the US Atomic Energy Commission's studies of uranium (Courier).

Hopkins was married (1901-38) to Sarah Maude Childs until her death in 1938, and together they had two sons. He was subsequently married to fellow chemist May L. Whitsitt. He died on August 26, 1952, in Urbana, Illinois.

Sources:

"Noyes Laboratory at the University of Illinois, B. Smith Hopkins (1873-1952): Chemistry of Rare Earths," American Chemical Society (ACS), accessed May 7, 2020, https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/noyeslaboratory.html

"Separation of Rare Earth Elements by Charles James, Discovery of the Rare Earth Elements," American Chemical Society (ACS), accessed May 7, 2020, https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/earthelements.html.

"Services Saturday for Noted U.I. Organic Chemist," The Champaign-Urbana Courier, August 26, 1952.

Access Terms

This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Genre/Form of Material: Papers Topical Term: Argonne National Laboratory Faculty Papers Fractionation Genealogy Illinium Inorganic Chemistry Rare Earths Spectrographics Analysis X-Ray Analysis
Administrative Information Accruals:

2/24/1964

Arrangement of Materials:

Chronological.

Scope and Contents

Papers of B. Smith Hopkins (1873-1952), professor of inorganic chemistry (1923-41), including correspondence with J. Allen Harris (Canada), Leonard F. Yntema, Charles James, William A. Noyes, David Kinley, Gerald Druce (England), G. Hevesy (Copenhagen), Manne Siegbahn (Upsala), R. J. Meyer (Berlin), S. Urbain (Paris), Luigi Rolla (Florence) and other chemists relating to research work on the rare earths, fractionation of rare earth solutions, element 61 or "illinium," shipment and use of rare earth salts, ionic migration method of separating rare earth, x-ray spectrographic analysis of rare earths, Hopkins' faculty appointment (1919), work of graduate students, textbooks and revisions, x-ray equipment, laboratory notebooks (1925-31), chemical manufacturing and Hopkins' genealogy. The papers include a posthumous list of Hopkins' publications, 12 books and 129 articles, copies of five articles (1924-44), three editions of his General Chemistry for College (1930, 1937, 1951), an edition of Essentials of Chemistry (1946) and a bound volume of his articles (1905-48).

Mrs. Hopkins' correspondence (1948, 1952, 1954-56, 1961, 1963) concerns the analysis of illinium samples by C. C. Kiess of the Bureau of Standards; efforts to locate samples lost by Argonne National Laboratories and F. Weigel's attempts to secure a sample for analysis. The series contains spectrography plates from Illinium analyses, a graph template of "Concentration of Illinium" and a box of chemicals.