Helium
When John W. Draper mentioned helium during his inaugural address as the first president of the American Chemical Society in 1876, only eight years had passed since French and English astronomers had first identified this strange element in the gases surrounding the Sun. Because it was then unknown on planet Earth, helium derived its name from the Greek word for the Sun, Helios. While some scientists debated the original astronomical findings, others found that extremely small amounts could be obtained by heating some uranium minerals. Yet, by 1897, helium was still considered to be one of the rarest elements then discovered.
Credit: NIH
When John W. Draper mentioned helium during his inaugural address as the first president of the American Chemical Society in 1876, only eight years had passed since French and English astronomers had first identified this strange element in the gases surrounding the Sun. Because it was then unknown on planet Earth, helium derived its name from the Greek word for the Sun, Helios. While some scientists debated the original astronomical findings, others found that extremely small amounts could be obtained by heating some uranium minerals. Yet, by 1897, helium was still considered to be one of the rarest elements then discovered.
The American Chemical Society designated the discovery of helium in natural gas as a National Historic Chemical Landmark at The University of Kansas on April 15, 2000. The plaque commemorating the event reads:
Working in Bailey Hall on December 7, 1905, Hamilton P. Cady and David F. McFarland discovered significant amounts of helium in a natural gas sample from Dexter, Kansas. Cady and McFarland subsequently analyzed more than 40 other gas samples, showing that helium, previously thought to be rare on Earth but abundant in the Sun, was available in plentiful quantities from the Great Plains of the United States. Helium-filled blimps were vital to the United States in World War II, and helium is still considered a national strategic reserve material. Today, helium is used in airships and balloons, low-temperature research, arc welding, lasers, nuclear reactors, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Visit National Historic Chemical Landmarks to read more about the discovery of helium in natural gas.
Excerpted with permission, National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program
www.acs.org/landmarks