John Motley Morehead IIIBorn 3 Nov 1870; died 7 Jan 1965 at age 94.American chemist who wasinvolvedwith commercial production of calcium carbide (discovered accidentally with his father on 2 May 1892). Calcium carbide is used to generate acetylene gas, important for welding, and is the basis for the syntheses of many organic chemicals and polymers. In 1897, he became a construction engineer for building calcium carbide manufacturing plants in the U.S. and abroad. He cofounded (1900), and was a major stockholder of, the Union Carbide Corporation. During 1899, he designed a gas analysis apparatus which became standard equipment in industrial laboratories. He publishedAnalysis of Industrial Gases.(1900). He donated the Morehead Planetarium, the first at a U.S. university, which opened 10 May 1949 at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.«. |
