Fred McLafferty

Fred McLafferty was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1923, but attended grade school in Omaha, Nebraska, graduating from Omaha North High School in 1940.{{cite journal |author=Gross ML |title=Focus in honor of Fred McLafferty, 2003 Distinguished Contribution awardee, for the discovery of the "McLafferty Rearrangement" |journal=J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=951–5 |year=2004 |pmid=15234352 |doi=10.1016/j.jasms.2004.05.009|doi-access=free |bibcode=2004JASMS..15..951G }} The urgent requirements of World War II accelerated his undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska; he obtained his B.S. degree in 1943 and thereafter entered the US armed forces. He served in western Europe during the invasion of Germany and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge, a Purple Heart, five Bronze Star Medals and a Presidential Unit Citation.{{cite book|first=Michael A. |last=Grayson|title=Fred W. McLafferty, Transcript of Interviews Conducted by Michael A. Grayson at Cornell University Ithaca, New York on 22 and 23 January 2007 |date=23 January 2007 |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/sites/default/files/mclafferty_fw_0352_full.pdf|place=Philadelphia, PA|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation }}

He returned to the University of Nebraska in late 1945 and completed his M.S. degree in 1947. He went on to work under William Miller at Cornell University where he earned his Ph.D. in 1950. He went on to a postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Iowa with R.L. Shriner.

He took a position at Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan in 1950 and was in charge of mass spectrometry and gas chromatography from 1950 to 1956. In 1953–1956, he started collecting reference mass spectra whenever the instruments were not in use.{{Cite journal |last=McLafferty |first=Fred W. |date=2011-07-19 |title=A Century of Progress in Molecular Mass Spectrometry |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-anchem-061010-114018 |journal=Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1146/annurev-anchem-061010-114018 |pmid=21351881 |bibcode=2011ARAC....4....1M |issn=1936-1327|url-access=subscription }}

In 1956, he became the Director of Dow's Eastern Research Lab in Framingham, Massachusetts. During this time, he developed the first GC-MS instruments and analyzed the company's reference collection of spectra he himself founded. This allowed him to work out techniques for determining the structure of organic molecules by mass spectrometry, most notably in the discovery of what is now known as the McLafferty rearrangement.{{cite journal|last=McLafferty|first=F.W.|title=Mass Spectrometric Analysis. Molecular Rearrangements|journal=Anal. Chem.|year=1959|volume=31|issue=1|pages=82–87|doi=10.1021/ac60145a015}}

From 1964 to 1968, he was Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University.{{Cite web|title=Fred W. McLafferty Obituary|url=https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/23499974/fred-w-mclafferty|access-date=2021-12-29|website=www.tributearchive.com|language=en}} In 1968, he returned to his alma mater, Cornell University, to become the Peter J. W. Debye Professor of Chemistry. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1982.{{Cite web|title=Fred W. McLafferty|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/52718.html|access-date=2021-12-29|website=www.nasonline.org}} While at Cornell, McLafferty assembled one of the first comprehensive databases of mass spectra{{cite book|last=McLafferty|first=F.W.|title=Wiley Registry of Mass Spectral Data, 9th Edition|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley and Sons, Inc.|location=Hoboken, NJ|isbn=978-0-470-52035-2|pages=662, 000|url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470520353.html|access-date=2011-06-24|archive-date=2012-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012082302/http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470520353.html|url-status=dead}} and pioneered artificial intelligence techniques to interpret GC-MS results.{{cite book |author1=Tureček, František |author2=McLafferty, Fred W. |title=Interpretation of mass spectra |publisher=University Science Books |location=Sausalito, Calif |year=1993 |pages=290 |isbn=978-0-935702-25-5 }} His PBM{{cite journal|last=McLafferty|first=F. W. |author2=Hertel, R. H. |author3=Villwock, R. D.|title=Probability based matching of mass spectra. Rapid identification of specific compounds in mixtures|journal=Organic Mass Spectrometry|year=1974|volume=9|pages=690–702|doi=10.1002/oms.1210090710|issue=7}} STIRS program has widespread use to save hours of time-consuming work otherwise required to manually analyze GC-MS results.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

McLafferty died in Ithaca, New York, on December 26, 2021, at the age of 98.{{cite web |title=Fred W. McLafferty |url=https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/ny/ithaca/fred-mclafferty-13911635 |website=Echovita |access-date=29 December 2021}}

• 1971 ACS Award in Chemical Instrumentation{{cite web |url=https://acsanalytical.org/awards-resources/national-acs-awards/chemical-instrumentation/ |website=ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry |publisher=American Chemical Society |access-date=19 August 2021|title=Chemical Instrumentation |date=12 July 2017 }}
• 1981 ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry{{cite web |title=ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/acs-award-in-analytical-chemistry.html |publisher=American Chemical Society |access-date=19 August 2021}}
• 1984 William H. Nichols Medal{{cite web |title=NICHOLS MEDALISTS |url=https://www.newyorkacs.org/nicholsmedalists.html |access-date=19 August 2021}}
• 1985 Oesper Award{{cite web |title=Previous Recipients of the Oesper Award |url=https://www.artsci.uc.edu/departments/chemistry/alumni-and-community/the-oesper-award-program-and-symposium/previous-recipients-of-the-oesper-award.html |website=UC College of Arts and Sciences |publisher=University of Cincinnati |access-date=19 August 2021}}
• 1985 J. J. Thomson Gold Medal by International Mass Spectrometry Society{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 1987 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Award {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 1989 Field and Franklin Award for Mass Spectrometry {{cite web |title=Frank H. Field and Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry |url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/frank-h-field-and-joe-l-franklin-award-for-outstanding-achievement-in-mass-spectrometry.html |publisher=American Chemical Society |access-date=19 August 2021}}
• 1989 University of Naples Gold Medal {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 1992 Robert Boyle Gold Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 1996 Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists{{cite web|url=http://www.theaic.org/award_winners/chem_pioneer.html#cpa60s|title=Chemical Pioneer Award|publisher=American Institute of Chemists|access-date= 30 November 2015}}
• 1997 Bijvoet Medal of the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research.{{cite web|url=http://bijvoet-center.eu/bijvoet-medal/|title=Bijvoet Medal|publisher=Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research|access-date=2017-09-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912191415/http://bijvoet-center.eu/bijvoet-medal/|archive-date=2017-09-12|url-status=dead}}
• 1999 J. Heyrovsky Medal by the Czech Academy of Sciences {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 2000 G. Natta Gold Medal by Italian Chemical Society {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 2001 Torbern Bergman Medal by the Swedish Chemical Society {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 2003 [https://www.asms.org/about-asms-awards/distinguished-contribution John B. Fenn Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry] by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS)
• 2004 Lavoisier Medal by the French Chemical Society {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 2006 Pehr Edman Award by the International Association for Protein Structure{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
• 2015 Nakanishi Prize from the American Chemical Society{{Cite web|title = Nakanishi Prize|url = http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/awards/national/bytopic/nakanishi-prize.html|website = American Chemical Society|access-date = 2016-01-03}}
• 2019 American Chemical Society designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark {{Cite web|title = Analytical innovation at Dow Chemical honored as a National Historic Chemical Landmark|url = https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2019/june/analytical-innovation-at-dow-chemical-honored-as-a-national-historic-chemical-landmark.html |website = American Chemical Society|access-date = 2019-06-07}} in Midland, MI for the demonstration of the first operating GC-MS by Fred McLafferty and Roland Gohlke.

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book |author1=Venkataraghavan, Rengachari |author2=McLafferty, Fred W. |title=Mass spectral correlations |publisher=American Chemical Society |location=Columbus, OH |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-8412-0702-8 }}
• {{cite book |author1=Heller, Stephen R. |author2=McLafferty, Fred W. |author3=Stauffer, Douglas B. |author4=Stenhagen, Einar |title=The Wiley/NBS registry of mass spectral data |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-471-62886-6 }}
• {{cite book |author1=Stauffer, Douglas B. |author2=McLafferty, Fred W. |title=The important peak index of the registry of mass spectral data |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-471-55270-3 }}
• {{cite book |author1=Tureček, František |author2=McLafferty, Fred W. |title=Interpretation of mass spectra |publisher=University Science Books |location=Sausalito, Calif |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-935702-25-5 }}

{{Refend}}

• [http://hdl.handle.net/1813/3525 A Conversation with Fred W. McLafferty 2006], 90 minute video, for Cornell University.
• {{cite web|author=Center for Oral History| title= Fred W. McLafferty |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/oral-histories/mclafferty-fred-w|website= Science History Institute }}
• {{cite book|first=Michael A. |last=Grayson|title=Fred W. McLafferty, Transcript of Interviews Conducted by Michael A. Grayson at Cornell University Ithaca, New York on 22 and 23 January 2007 |date=23 January 2007 |url=https://oh.sciencehistory.org/sites/default/files/mclafferty_fw_0352_full.pdf|place=Philadelphia, PA|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation }}

{{Portal|Biography}}

{{Thomson Medal Recipients}}

{{Recipients of the Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry Award}}

{{Field and Franklin Award}}

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Category:1923 births

Category:2021 deaths

Category:21st-century American chemists

Category:Mass spectrometrists

Category:Purdue University faculty

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Cornell University faculty

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Dow Chemical Company employees

Category:Bijvoet Medal recipients

Category:Thomson Medal recipients

Category:Omaha North High School alumni

Category:People from Evanston, Illinois

Category:United States Army personnel of World War II