JOURNAL OF MASS SPECTROMETRYJ. Mass Spectrom. 2001; 36: 1–2

Obituary

Frederick W. Lampe, 1927–2000

Frederick W. Lampe, Professor Emeritus, and former headof the Department of Chemistry at Penn State University,died suddenly on November 8, 2000 at age 73. He earnedhis bachelor’s degree at Michigan State College in 1950 andhis masters and Ph.D. in chemistry at Columbia Universityin 1951 and 1953 respectively. Following graduation fromColumbia, he served as a research chemist at Humble Oiland Refining Company for seven years. He joined the PennState faculty as an Associate Professor in 1960, was promotedto Professor in 1965 and became assistant head of thedepartment in 1978. He served as head of the ChemistryDepartment from 1983 to 1988, and retired as ProfessorEmeritus in 1992.

Dr Lampe held visiting professorships at the Universityof New Hampshire (1963), the Institute of Physics Universityof Freiburg (1966–67), and the Hahn-Meitner Institute forNuclear Research, Berlin (1973–74 and 1984). He wasawarded an NSF Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship (1966–67),elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1970),awarded a U.S. Senior Scientist Award of the Alexandervon Humboldt Foundation Germany (1973), and named aRobert A. Welch Foundation Lecturer (1982). Dr Lampewas a member of the American Chemical Society, theAmerican Physical Society and the American Society forMass Spectrometry. He served on the ASMS Board ofDirectors from 1981 to 1983. He published more than 160research papers and held five patents. At the time of hisdeath he was working with Harry Allcock of the Penn StateDepartment of Chemistry on the third edition of their book,Contemporary Polymer Chemistry.

The major thrust of Dr Lampe’s work for over 30 yearswas the development of mass spectrometric techniques toprobe the fundamental chemistry of atomic and molecularsystems subjected to the influence of excitation and ionizationfields. He made numerous contributions to the knowledgeand understanding of the chemical nature and mechanisticroles of reactive intermediates in the fields of photochemistryand radiation chemistry.

In a summary of career research accomplishments pre-pared shortly before his retirement, Dr Lampe had notedthree aspects of his work that he considered particularly sig-nificant. His earliest, and, in his words, perhaps most impor-tant work was conducted in the mid 1950s with coworkersF. H. Field and J. L. Franklin. This seminal research demon-strated the extreme rapidity and copiousness of ion-moleculereactions in hydrocarbons1 and he showed for the first time2

that such ionic reactions played a key role in the radiationchemistry of gases. These and subsequent papers played amajor role in initiating the extensive activity in the studyof ion-molecule reactions that has taken place in the last 45years; indeed, the term ‘‘ion-molecule reactions’’ was coinedin these early endeavors. A singularly important single con-tribution in these early years was the discovery of hydrideion abstraction by positive ions,3 its universal occurrencein the mass spectra of hydrocarbons and in any chemi-cal system in which positive ions and chemically bondedhydrogen are present. Dr Lampe later showed how theseion-molecule reactions played a central role in the radiation-induced polymerization of isobutylene in the liquid phase at�80 °C.

From the mid-1960s through the 1970s, Lampe andhis students used pulsed mass spectrometric techniquesto elucidate the mechanisms of the associative ionizationreactions of excited atoms. They were the first to use pulsingtechniques to determine both the average and specificreaction rates of the general process: XŁ C Y ! XYC C e.Working with Hotop and Niehaus, Lampe demonstratedthat such reactions were not limited to atomic reactants butalso occurred with excited molecules, particularly H2

Ł.4

The final area to which Dr Lampe made significantcontributions was the ionic chemistry of volatile siliconand germanium compounds and the lifetimes of their ion-molecule collision complexes. This work began in 1966and continued until his retirement. He and his studentsdiscovered the existence of SiH5

C and GeH5C and measured

the proton affinities of SiH4 and GeH4. With his coworkers,

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

2 Obituary

he demonstrated the enormous ease with which hydrogencompounds of silicon donate hydride ions to attackingpositive ions. These studies were also used to demonstratethat the termination of silyl radical reactions in the 10–60Torr range was a disproportionation to SiH4 and SiH2, withthe latter persisting to form disilane.5 This observation is indistinct contrast to the termination of methyl radicals whichyield ethane directly.

Retirement allowed Fred to pursue his passions otherthan chemistry while remaining an active scholar andresearcher. After retirement he returned to his study ofthe piano, an interest that had been interrupted by a brokenarm in childhood. He was also a talented athlete and, whilehe had given up ice hockey and squash, he had become anavid golfer. He pursued this interest not only at home butalso during the extensive time he and his wife, Ellie, devotedto visiting their children and grandchildren. He is survivedby Eleanor Coffin Lampe, his wife of more than 50 years, fivechildren, two sisters and six grandchildren.

From a personal perspective there were two veryremarkable aspects to Fred Lampe’s personality. First, hewas extraordinarily patient as a teacher and mentor. Hewas talented willing in finding ways to explain difficult

topics, and he was incredibly supportive in situations wherecomplex instrumentation was misbehaving. Second, Fredhad an exceptional talent for identifying the basic physicalprinciples behind phenomena and then finding mathematicalexpressions for them. After graduation, Fred became a friendand colleague to me as he was to many of his former students.Fred Lampe will be sorely missed by family, friends andcolleagues the world over.

ALFRED L. YERGEYLampe student, Ph.D., 1967

REFERENCES

1. Field FH, Franklin JL, Lampe FW. Gaseous–Ion reactions inmethane and ethylene. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1956; 78: 5697.

2. Lampe FW. High-energy electron irradiation of methane. J. Am.Chem. Soc. 1957; 79: 1055.

3. Field FH, Lampe FW. Reactions of gaseous ions VI. Hydride iontransfer reactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1958; 80: 5587.

4. Hotop H, Lampe FW, Niehaus A. Collision reactions of excitedhydrogen molecules. J. Chem. Phys. 1969; 51: 593.

5. Austin ER, Lampe FW. Hydrogen-atom sensitized decomposi-tion of monosilane. J. Phys. Chem. 1976; 80: 2811.

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Mass Spectrom. 2001; 36: 1–2