William Francis Hillebrand

(1853-1925)

President of the Colorado Scientific Society – 1885

Founding member, President 1885, Honorary member 1896

• Chemist, assayer
• Graduate Cornell Univ.; Ph.D. Univ. of Heidelberg; Univ. of Strassburg; Mining Academy, Freiberg, Saxony; Dr. of Pharmacy, George Washington Univ.
• Chemist, U.S. Geological Survey; Chief chemist, U.S. Bureau of Standards
• Professor of Chemistry and Physics at George Washington Univ.
• Author of articles on methods of rock analysis and mineralogy; descriptions of Colorado minerals
• Member, National Academy of Science, 1908; awarded Chandler Gold Medal from Columbia Univ. 1916; President American Chemical Society 1906

Short Biography

by Beth Simmons, Colorado Scientific Society Historian

William Francis Hillebrand (Dec. 12, 1853-Feb. 7, 1925)

Son of famous botanist, William Hillebrand, William Francis Hillebrand was born in Hawaii, and had the best education money could buy – Oahu (Punahou) College, near Honolulu, under the chief guidance of Prof. W. D. Alexander, then Cornell U. and later a PhD from Heidelberg (1875) where he studied under Bunsen (of Bunsen burner fame) and met Edward S. Dana. In 1873 he took a foot trip through the Eifel and to the Kaiserstuhl, in the Rhine Valley, and Dana drew his attention to mineralogy. Then he went to the University of Strasbourg where he determined the constitution of quinic acid and published also a short paper on the crystallography of one of its derivatives. Hearing of the opportunities in the American mining west, he then went to the Mining Academy in Freiberg where he specialized in geochemistry and metallurgy.

While in Germany, with Thomas Norton, he isolated the element Cerium in 1872, jump starting his career. Later the two isolated lanthanum and didymium, including the determination of their specific heats and valences. “Didymium” has since been shown to be a mixture of several closely related metals. Hillebrand’s detection of nitrogen in the varieties of uraninite, led to the discovery that the gas was a mixture, the major part of the supposed nitrogen being helium.

The publicity the organization of the US Geological Survey received seemed to be a better opening for me than a university position or one in the industries, which at that time employed few chemists; he wrote to Clarence King, with recommendations from Bunsen and Cornell’s President White. In New Jersey, Hillebrand met a Mr. Ballon from Leadville, Colorado, where he and a brother operated an ore-sampling plant. He advised Hillebrand to “Go West, Young Man,” so late in June 1879, Hillebrand went to Denver, where he sought advice from Senator Nathaniel Hill, who also became a charter member of the CSS. Hill had nothing to offer so Hillebrand went to Central City, Georgetown, then Leadville where he knew a number of “Freibergers.” He joined the assaying firm of William S. Ward and Robert E. Booraem, both of whom left the business. During the year, S. F. Emmons, in charge of the Rocky Mountain Division of the U. S. Geological Survey, occasionally came to the office for an assay and during the miners’ strike, Emmons asked him f 1 would like to take a position as chemist in his division of the Survey! Thus, ‘twas offered him from “the clear sky” the very position he had sought when applying to King.

He accepted the offer and for a month lived with Emmons, Cross, and Jacobs, in a comfortable cottage which had been rented while they were on field service in the Leadville district. During that time he collected samples of ores at the smelters for later examination in the laboratory, which was to be created in Denver. For some time after reaching Denver Hillebrand planned and supervised erecting the laboratory, a one-story brick structure on the bank of Cherry Creek where Lawrence Street crosses it, on the southeast corner. Future CSS President Richard Pearce rented the facility to the Survey, and Hillebrand worked first with Antony Guyard and later with L. G. Eakins (another CSS member) from July 3, 1880, until November 1885, when the lab was transferred to Washington where a larger facility had been established in 1883.

In those five years, Hillebrand helped found the Colorado Scientific Society in 1882, and was elected President in 1885.

Work in the lab was never dull. There were minerals to be analyzed and described, such as the zeolites of Table Mountain and the Cryolite of Pikes Peak. In this work he had the valuable cooperation of Whitman Cross, the distinguished petrographer.

He named a new mineral, a ferric tellurite, emmonsite, for his boss! His analyses of the rocks of Leucite Hills were outstanding and marked the beginning of an epoch in the history of chemical petrology.

Hillebrand was working on the alunite-jarosite group when. S. L. Penfield handed him a sample of supposed jarosite from a new locality. It resembled ordinary jarosite but its analysis was entirely new. Instead of the potassium of normal jarosite it contained lead, and so was given the name plumbojarosite. Some mines in Utah have in recent years yielded plumbojarosite in quantities sufficient to make it a profitable ore of lead. If it had not been for Hillebrand’s discovery of the species, it might have been discarded by the miners as worthless.

Early in 1892 members of the Colorado Scientific Society sent Hillebrand five samples of an ore containing zinc, which had been a source of trouble to the analysts and assayers of Colorado. Mr. L. G. Eakins, under Hillebrand’s direction, used a slower and more accurate method and proved the presence of zinc. That led to changes in the smelting and refining of that ore- a great help to Colorado metallurgists.

On September 6, 1881, Hillebrand married Martha May Westcott, of Perrysburg, Ohio. They had two sons – William Arthur and Harold Newcomb. William became an electrical engineer at Palo Alto. California; Harold served as professor of English in the University of Illinois.

From 1892 to 1910 Hillebrand filled the chair of General Chemistry and Physics in the National College of Pharmacy, which became affiliated with the George Washington University. George Washington U. awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Pharmacy. He served as president of the American Chemical Society in 1906, which initiated the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, for which he served as editor. He joined the National Academy of Science in 1908. He also belonged to the American Philosophical Society, the American Society for Testing Materials, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of Washington, and the Gottingen Gesellschaft, and was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

On July 1, 1909 Hillebrand transferred to the National Bureau of Standards where he was the chief chemist. Under Hillebrand’s administration as Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Standards, the standardization of analyses was carried much further; and led to the Bureau distributing about 5000 samples, representing 70 different substances, annually.

For his noted achievements, Columbia University awarded him their Chandler Gold Medal in 1915.

Hillebrand died on February 7, 1925, of heart failure, following an operation which, however, was not the cause of his death.

Hillebrand authored several books on chemical subjects, published articles in the American Journal of Science, the Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, the American Chemical Journal, and the Journal of the ”American Chemical Society.

His autobiographical notes and biographical memoir are linked below:
http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/hillebrand-william.pdf

Publications of Dr. W. F. Hillebrand

1875, Uber metallisches Cer. Lanthan und Didym. (With T. H. Norton.) Pogg. Ann.V. 156, pp. 466-476.

1876, Specifische Warme des Cers, Lanthans und Didyms. Pogg. Ann. V. 158, pp. 71-87.

1877, L. E. and D. Phil. Mag. (5), V. 3, pp. 109-119 (1877).

1877, Crystalform des Tetracetylchinasaureaethers. Zeit. f. Kryst. V. I, pp. 303.

1878, Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Chinasaure. (With R. Fittig.) Ann. der Chemie, V. 193, pp. 194-201.

1882, On the Minerals, mainly Zeolites, occurring in the Basalt of Table Mountain, near Golden, Colorado. (With Whitman Cross.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 23, pp. 452-459, and V. 24, pp. 129-138.

1882, Notes on some interesting Minerals occurring near Pikes Peak, Colorado. (With Whitman Cross.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 24, pp. 281-286.

1883, On Minerals of the Cryolite Group recently found in Colorado. (With Whitman Cross.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 26, pp. 272-286.

1884, An Interesting Variety of Lollingite, etc. Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V.27, pp. 349-358.

1885, Emmonsite, a Ferrric Tellurite. Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc, V. 2, pp. 20-23.

1885, Contributions to the Mineralogy of the Rocky Mountains. (With Whitman Cross.) Bull. 20, U. S. Geol. Survey, 114 pp.

1886, Chemistry of the Rocks and Ores of Colorado. U. S. Geological Survey Monograph XII, Appendix B.

1888, Preliminary Remarks on North American Uraninitics. Bull. 60, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 131-133.

1888, Mineralogical Notes. (Samarskite, etc.) Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc, V. 3, pp. 38-47.

1888, Notes on Certain Rare Copper Minerals from Utah. (With H. S. Washington.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 35, pp. 298-307.

1889, Analyses of Three Descloizites from New Localities. Am. Jour. Sci. (3). V. 37, pp. 434-439.

1889, Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc, 3, 193-199.

1890, Additional Notes on the Tyrolite from Utah. (With E. S. Dana.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), v. 39, pp. 271-273.

1890, Occurrence of Nitrogen in Uraninite; Composition of Uraninite in General. Bull. 78, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 43-79.

1890, Occurrence of Nitrogen in Uraninite and Composition of Uraninite in General. Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 40, pp. 384-394.

1891, New Analyses of Uraninite. Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 42, pp. 390-393.

1892, Isomorphism and Composition of Thorium and Uranous Sulphates. (With W. H. Melville.) Am. Chem. Jour., V. 14, pp. 1-9.

1892, Zinc-bearing Spring Waters from Missouri. Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 43, pp. 418-422.

1893, Description of Rowlandite. (With W. E. Hidden.) Amer. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 46, pp. 208-212

1893, Darstellung and specifisches Gewicht des krystallisierten Urandioxydes. Zeit. f. anorg. Chem. V. 3, pp. 244-248.

1893, Ein vveiteres Beispiel der Isomorphie von Thorerde and Urandioxyd. Zeit. f. anorg. Chem. V. 3, pp. 249-251.

1893, On Machintoshite, a New Thorium and Uranium Mineral. (With W. E. Hidden.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 46, pp. 98-103.

1894, Beaver Creek Meteorite. (With E. E. Howell.) Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 47, pp. 430-435.

1894, Occurrence of Barium and Strontium in Silicate Rocks. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 16, pp. 81-82.

1894, Estimation of Small Amounts of Barium and Strontium in Silicate Analysis. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 16, pp. 83-89.

1894, A Plea for Greater Completeness in Chemical Rock Analysis. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V, 16, pp. 90-93.

1895, Warning against the Use of Fluoriferous Hydrogen Peroxide in Estimating Titanium. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 17, pp. 718-719.

1895, Calaverite from Cripple Creek, Colorado. Am. Jour. Sci. (3), V. 50, pp. 128-131.

1897, Some Principles and Methods of Analysis Applied to Silicate Rocks. Bull. 148, U. S. Geological Survey, pp. 15-64. Also, German translation by E. Zschimmer under title “Praktische Anleitung zur Analyse der Silicatgesteine,”

1898, Engelman & Co., Leipzig. Colorimetric Estimation of Small Amounts of Chromium, etc. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 20, pp. 454-460.

1898, Volumetric Estimation of Vanadium in Presence of Small Amounts of Chromium, etc. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 20, pp. 461-465.

1898, Distribution and Quantitative Occurrence of Vanadium and Molybdenum in Rocks of the U. S. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 6, pp. 209-216.

1898, Preliminary Report of the Committee on Coal Analysis. (With W. A. Noyes and C. B. Dudley.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 20, pp. 281-285.

1899, Report of the Committee on Coal Analysis. (With W. A. Noyes and C. B. Dudley.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 21, pp. 1116-1132.

1899, Mineralogical Notes: Analyses of Tysonite, Bastnasite, Prosopite, Jeffersonite, Covellite, etc. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 7, pp. 51-57.

1899, Roscoelite. (With H. W. Turner.) Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 7, pp. 451-458.

1899, Mineralogical Notes : Melonite, Coloradoite, Petzite, Hessite. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 8, pp. 295-298.

1899, Chemical Composition of the Roofing Slates of Eastern New York and Western Vermont. 19th Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Pt. Ill, pp. 301-305.

1900, Some principles and Methods of Rock Analysis. Bull. 176, U. S. Geol. Survey, 114 pp.

1900, Relative Values of the Mitscherlich and Hydrofluoric Acid Methods for determining Ferrous Iron. (With H. N. Stokes.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 22, pp. 625-630.

1900, Zeit. f. anorg. Chem., V. 25, pp. 326-331.

1900, Carnotite and Associated Vanadiferous Minerals in Western Colorado. (With F. L. Ransome.) Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 10, pp. 120-144; also 1905, Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 9-31.

1901, Notiz iiber den Einfluss von Pyrit und anderen Sulfiden auf die Bestimmung von zweiwertigem Eisen. (With H. N. Stokes.) Zeit. f. anorg. Chem., V. 27, pp. 125-126.

1902, Common Errors in the Determination of Silica. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 24, pp. 362-374.

1902, Some additions to the Alunite-Jarosite Group of Minerals. (With S. L. Penfield.) Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 14, pp. 211-220. Also, 1905, Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 32-41.

1902, Zeit. f. Kryst. Min., 36, 545-554 (1902), under title “Beitragv z. Kenntniss d. Alunit-JarositGruppe.” Composition of Yttrialite, with a Criticism of the Formula assigned to Thalenite. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V.13, pp. 145-152, Also 1905, Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 61-68.
1902, Chemical Discussion of Analyses of Volcanic Ejecta from Martinique and St. Vincent. Nat. Geographic Mag., V. 13, pp. 296-299.

1902, (Part of) Report of the Subcommittee on Uniformity of Analysis of Materials for the Portland Cement Industry. Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind., V. 21, pp. 24-29.

1903, Critical Review of the Second Series of Analyses of Materials for the Portland Cement Industry, made under the Auspices of the New York Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 25, pp. 1180-1208.

1903, Modern Methods of Rock and Mineral Analysis. Jour. Franklin Inst., V. 155, pp. 109-126 and 181-194.

1903, Review of the Progress of Analytical Chemistry in the U. S. since June, 1900 (with the help of numerous collaborators). Fifth Internat. Congress Appl. Chem., Berlin, V. I, pp. 435-550.

1904, Crvstallographical and Chemical Notes on Lawsonite. (With W. T. Schaller.) Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 17, pp. 195-197 Also 1905, Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 58-60.

1904, Emmonsite (?) from a New Locality. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), 18, 433-434.

1904, Minerals from the Clifton-Morenci District, Arizona. (With W. Lindgren.) Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 18, pp. 448-460 Also 1905, Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 42-54.

1904, Contribution from the Committee on Uniformity in Technical Analysis, I. (With C. B. Dudley, Clifford Richardson and H. N. Stokes.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 26, pp. 1644-1653.

1905, Some thoughts on the Present Conditions of Analytical Chemistry. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 27, pp. 300-308.

1905, Two Tellurium Minerals from Colorado. Bull. 262. U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. S5-S7.
1905, Contributions to Mineralogy from the U. S. Geological Survey. (With F. W. Clarke and others.) Bull. 262, U. S. Geol. Survey.

1905, Comparison of a Wet and Crucible-Fire Method for the Assay of Gold Telluride Ores, with Notes on the Errors occurring in the operations of Fire Assay and Parting. (With E. T. Allen.) Bull. 253, U. S. Geol. Survey, 31 pp.

1905, Preliminary Announcement concerning a New Mercury Mineral from Terlingua, Texas. Science, New Ser., V. 22, p. 844, also. 1906, Am. Jour. Sci., V. 21, pp. 85-86.

1906, Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., V. 28, p. 122.

1906, Cooperative Analysis of an Argillaceous Limestone (Cont. from the Com. on Uniformity in Technical Analysis, II). Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 28, pp. 223-239.

1907, The Present and Future of the American Chemical Society. (Presidential Address.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 29, pp. 1-18 also 1907, Science, N. S., V. 25, pp. 81-95.

1907, The Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks. Bull. 305, U. S. Geol. Survey, 200 pp.

1907, The Mercury Minerals from Terlingua, Texas: Kleinite, Terlinguaite, Eglestonite, Montroydite, Calomel, Mercury. (With W. T. Schaller.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, V. 29, pp. 1180-1194, Also 1907, Am. Jour. Sci., V. 24, pp. 259-274.

1907, The Vanadium Sulphide, Patronite. and its Mineral Associates from Minasragra, Peru. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc, 29, 1019-1029, Also 1907. Am. Jour. Sci. (4), V. 24, p. 141-151.

1908, The Influence of Fine Grinding on the Water and Ferrous Iron Content of Minerals and Rock. Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., V. 30, pp. 1120-1131.

1909, Bureau of Standards Analyzed Samples. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., V.1, p. 41.

1910, Chemistry in the Bureau of Standards. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V.2, p. 423.

1910, A New Occurrence of Plumbojarosite. (With F. E. Wright.) Am. Jour. Sci., V. 30, p. 191.

1910, The Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks. Bull. 422 U. S. Geol. Survey, Revised 1916.

1910, Mosesite, A New Mercury Mineral from Terlingua, Texas. (With F. A. Canfield and W. T. Schaller.) Am. Jour. Sci., V. 30, p. 202.

1911, The Determination of Manganese by the Sodium Bismuthate Method. (With W. Blum.) Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 3, pp. 374-376.

1911, Preliminary Report of the Committee on Quality of Platinum Laboratory Utensils. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 3, p. 686. (As Chairman of the Committee.)

1912, Errors in the Determination of Moisture in Coal,. (With W. L. Badger.) Orig. Comm. 8th Int. Cong. Appl. Chem., 10. 187; and Discussions, V. 27, p. 77.

1913, Calcium Vanadates from Peru, Colorado and Utah. (With F. E. Wright and H. E. Merwin.) Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. V. 3, p. 157.

1913, Two Varieties of Calciovolborthite (?) from Eastern Utah. (With H. E. Merwin.) Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. V. 3, p. 138 Also 1913; Am. Jour. Sci., 35, 441, Also 1914; Z. Kryst, Min., V. 53, p.4.

1913, A Danger to be Guarded Against in Making Mineral Separations by Means of Heavy Solutions. Jour. Wash. Acad. Sci. V.3, P. 137, Also Am. Jour. Sci. V.35, p. 439.

1914, Hewettite, Metahewettite and Pascoite, Hydrous Calcium Vanadates. (With H. E. Merwin and F. E. Wright.) Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, V. 53, p. 31 Also 1914, Z. Kryst. Min., V. 54, p. 209.

1915, Chandler Medal Address, Columbia Univ. Press.

1916, Recovery of Gallium from Spelter in the U. S. (With J. A. Scherrer.) Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 8, p. 225.

1916, Standard Methods of Sampling and Analysis and Standard Samples. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 8, p. 466.

1917, Our Analytical Chemistry and Its Future. Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. V. 9, p. 170

1919, Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks. Bull. 700 U. S. Geol. Survey.

1920, Volatilization Losses of Phosphorous During Evaporations of Phosphates with Sulphuric Acid or Fusions with Pyrosulphate. (With G. E. F. Lundell.) Jour. Am. Chem. Soc., V. 42, p. 2609.

1923, Bemerkungen. Zeits. fiir Analytische Chemie, V. 63, p. 41.

1923, Bemerkungen zu den Abhandlungen von J. Huber und von A. Gutbier und K. Staib in Band 61 dieser Zeitschrift. Ztschr. anal. Chem. V. 63, p. 41-42. Also 1924, In Chem. Abstr., 18, 29, this title is given as “Remarks on recent papers by J. Huber (determination of manganese as sulphate) and A. Cutbier and K. Staib (determination of zinc as sulphate).”

1923, Chemistry work of the Bureau of Standards. Chem. Age (New York), V. 31, p. 533-536 Also 1924 Chem. Abstr. V.18, p. 603.

1924, Carnotite and tyuyamunite and their ores in Colorado and Utah. Am. Jour. Sci., V. 8, pp. 201-216 Also 1924, Chem. Abstr. V. 18, p. 3338.