Flames and Explosions: An Introduction to Teaching Chemistry from Demonstration-Experiments

Henry E. Bent (1900 - 1986) was a man of admirable traits: an astute research chemist (surprising chemists, e.g., by showing that the iron thiocyanate complex in solution was not, as they thought, an analogue of Fe(CN)6-3, but, rather, chiefly FeSCN+2); an admired academic administrator (the youngest graduate dean in the U.S. at the time of his appointment and twenty-eight years later the oldest one in time of service, co-founder of the American Association of Graduate Deans, and first Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program of the National Defense Education Act); a gifted professor (beloved by generations of Chemistry 1 students and students of advanced inorganic chemistry); an American patriot (measurer during WWII of the vapor pressure of mustard gas, and cultivator of two large victory gardens); an admired citizen (president of Kiwanis during its city-wide tree-planting initiative, chairman of a Unitarian building Fund-Raising Committee, and chauffer for senior citizens on his block to and from Sunday services); architect and builder (of a log cabin, without power tools); and inventor (of theoretical chemical tools and hand-held tools, including a scribe for scribing logs accurately for his chinkless log cabin, described as the finest example of such construction in the U.S.). For many years he drove used Franklin air-cooled cars. He was a recipient of his university’s highest honor: its Thomas Jefferson Award. At age 79 he completed a 50 mile walk, planned for 12 hours, in 11 hours, 59 minutes, and 45 seconds. Henry. A. Bent (1926 - ), following in his father’s footsteps, attended Oberlin College and the University of California at Berkeley, where, like his father, he received a PhD in physical chemistry. He has held faculty positions at the universities of Connecticut, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and N.C. State University; been the recipient of several of his nation’s leading awards in chemical education; has served as chairman of the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Education and its Committee on Professional Training; and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In his middle 50s he completed a marathon, planned for 3 hours, in 2 hours and 58 minutes.