James Burton Nichols papers
Creation: 1929-1966Abstract
James Burton Nichols (1902-1995) was a chemist at the DuPont Company, a chemical research and manufacturing company. He worked at DuPont from 1927 to 1967, researching polymers, pigments, and ultracentrifugation. The Nichols papers include research papers and publications describing research work on the ultracentrifuge, colloid, and polymer chemistry projects.
Dates
- Creation: 1929-1966
Creator
- Nichols, James Burton, 1902-1995 (Person)
Extent
7 Linear Feet
Biographical Note
James Burton Nichols (1902-1995) was a chemist at the DuPont Company, a chemical research and manufacturing company. He worked at DuPont from 1927 to 1967, researching polymers, pigments, and ultracentrifugation.
Nichols was born on February 25, 1902 in Danbury, Connecticut. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in colloid chemistry in 1927. His first project was to construct an ultracentrifuge for the DuPont Company's fundamental research program. Nichols then began to study the particle sizes of DuPont's pigments and the relationship between particle size and pigment properties. Charles M. A. Stine (1882-1954), the director of the Fundamental Research Program, assigned Nichols to the colloid group, where he worked on the neoprene and synthetic polymer projects. During World War II, Nichols headed the physics section of the Chemical Department, where he worked on projects involving polymers (cellophane and nylon) and subatomic particles. Nichols retired from DuPont in 1967 and died near Wilmington on September 15, 1995.
Scope and Contents
The Nichols papers include research papers and publications describing research work on the ultracentrifuge, colloid, and polymer chemistry projects. Memoranda and correspondence describe Nichols' contributions to the Fundamental Research Program, particularly in the areas of paints and pigments, neoprene, nylon, cellophane, and solvents. There is correspondence with DuPont Company president Crawford H. Greenewalt (1902-1993), Elmer Bolton (1886-1968) (head of the Chemical Department), and Elmer O. Kraemer (1898-1943) (a University of Wisconsin professor and consultant to DuPont's Fundamental Research Program). Also included are Experimental Station quarterly reports from 1930 to 1936, research memoranda describing work on polymer electrolytes from 1946 to 1956, and reports on the colloid aspects of nylon from 1941 to 1945.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- James Burton Nichols papers
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2021: Laurie Sather
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
