My life at the National Bureau of Standards and the National Institute for Standards and Technology

Abstract

I had just completed my BS in chemistry at Northwestern University in 1928 and had passed the Civil Service Chemistry Examination, and my fiance had passed an examination for the Civil Service Commission and had been offered a job at that agency in Washington. So we got on a train and came to DC, arriving 15 March 1928. I went to the Civil Service Commission (now called the Office of Personnel Management) and was directed to NBS where there were a number of openings for a P1 chemist. There I talked to Dr. Wichers in Chemistry and to J. Murray in the Lime and Gypsum Section. I took a job in the latter. On 31 March, we got married and on Monday, 2 April 1928, I started work in the Lime and Gypsum Section of the Clay and Mineral Products Division.