1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

i84 THE SCROLL of Phi Delta Theta for January, 1954
cut in half. Only by reducing expenses to
the minimum did he. manage to stay in
school, though a Parke-Davis scholarship,
won in 1932, helped save the day by adding
$50 to his monthly stipend. He won his doctorate
in June, 1933, and began work the
same month for Carbide.
Raymond McNamee's first work at the
small Carbide lab was with the synthesis of
materials that were "supposed to revolutionize
the detergent industry."
"Of course the work didn't do that, but it
did bring to light a number of other interesting
things," McNamee says with a grin.
A few years later Dr. McNamee played a
leading role in the study and consequent
development of the process for the direct
oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide.
This process had led to enormous expansion
in the production of one of the
most basic synthetic organic chemicals:
ethylene oxide is a starting material for the
manufacture of anti-freezes, lubricants,
plaint, inks and dyes and hundreds of other
products in daily use.
Aided Development of Styrene
He also played a key part in the development
of a process for the manufacture of
styrene, a product and a name well known
to Kanawha Valley people.
This work was in the developmental stage
about the time the German Afrika Korps
was knocking at the gates of Cairo in the
early part of World War II, McNamee recaUed.
Shortly after this, although it generally
wasn't known, America's natural rubber
stocks slipped to 75,000 tons—or about
three weeks' supply.
"By July 4, 1941, our group had turned
out the first gallon of styrene, however," the
chemist said. And when Pearl Harbor came,
the piles had been driven for the first styrene
production on Blaine Island.
When the time of the three-weeks supply
was reached. Carbide had started to produce
polystyrene. Before the famed Institute plan
was finished, too, its capacity had been
boosted from a 3,000,000-pound-per-year
unit to two 25,000,000-pound-per-year units.
Working with dozens of other chemists,
McNamee had raced against time in a dangerous
battle of chemistry and productivity
—and the American team won.
Since the end of the war, much of Dr.
McNamee's time has been spent working
with insecticides. In the case of allethrin,
one of the most significant insecticides to
come out of recent chemical research, he was
directly responsible for the development of
a large-scale production process based on the
original synthesis: by Department of Agriculture
chemists.
This process has greatly amplified the
United States' source of this important, fastacting
insecticide.
When the present Research Center was
completed in 1949, Dr. McNamee was appointed
to head its activities.
A member of the American Chemical Society
since 1932, McNamee served as chairman
of the Kanawha Valley section in 1947.
He is affiliated with the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers, and with 5 S, A X S,
and $AY professional fraternities.
Civic Worker Too
He also takes an active interest in civic
affairs. Last year he was one of the organizers
of the Citizens' Honest Ballot League,
a strong force in the struggle for honest
elections in the county and state.
He's a family man, too. The McNamees
have two sons: Raymond, Jr., an undergraduate
at Northwestern, and Philip, a Spring
graduate at Charleston High School and covaledictorian
of his class.
If the technical side of Dr. McNamee's
work is confusing to the layman, it might
be fair to note that the youthful chemist
does have his moments of doubt.
When asked about the subject of his dissertation
at Northwestern—the research
problem he worked on in order to qualify
for his Ph.D. degree-Raymond McNamee
was momentarily stumped.
"Oh, yes," he said after a few seconds. "It
was The Rearrangement of Substituted
AUyl Ethers of . . ." At this point he quietly
reached into his desk, pulled out a technical
dictionary, and checked the spelling. ". . . of
'Resorcinol'."
That's Raymond Wilson McNamee, the
fellow who won his first job 20 years ago—
and who has been working at it with outstanding
success ever since.