Kathryn Grove Shipp

Kathryn Grove Shipp (1904 – October 14, 1977) was an American organic chemist, a specialist in explosives, affiliated with the Naval Ordnance Laboratory from 1957 to 1970. In 1967, she was one of the six recipients of the Federal Woman's Award.

Kathryn Grove Shipp
Kathryn Grove Shipp, from a 1967 publication of the Department of the Navy.
Born
Kathryn Elmira Grove

1904
Annandale, Pennsylvania
DiedOctober 14, 1977
Tiburon, California
OccupationChemist
Known forFederal Woman's Award (1967), patents on explosives

Early life

Kathryn Elmira Grove was born in Annandale, Pennsylvania.[1] She and her sister Ruth were raised in the household of an uncle and aunt, William Smith Conner[2] and Carolyn W. Conner,[3] in Madera, California, after their parents died. She graduated from Madera High School in 1921 and from Mills College in 1925, where she studied under Aurelia Henry Reinhardt.[4] She completed her doctorate in organic chemistry at Yale University in 1930,[5][6] with a postdoctoral year of further studies at Oxford on a National Research Council fellowship.[7] While at Yale, she was the first woman graduate student to hold the Dupont Fellowship in Chemistry.[8]

Career

Shipp was an assistant instructor in chemistry at Vassar College in 1925.[4] She left paid employment for 26 years to raise her children, before returning to laboratory chemistry in 1957,[9] when she joined the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland.[6][1] In 1964, she developed hexanitrostilbene (HNS), a vacuum-tolerant, heat-insensitive explosive used for seismic experiments on the moon, during the Apollo program.[5][1] "Here I am, a horse and buggy chemist, working in a nuclear age," she commented on her career in 1967.[6] She retired from the Naval Research Laboratory in 1970.[1]

Awards and patents

Shipp received the Navy's Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1962.[1] In 1967, she was one of the six recipients of the Federal Woman's Award,[10][11] presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[12] That same year, Mills College presented Shipp with an honorary Doctor of Law degree.[13][14]

Shipp held at least six patents,[15] on chemicals or processes of preparing chemicals, including "Preparation of 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzyl halides" (1966),[16] hexanitrostilbene (1970)[17] and polynitrobenzophenone (1971, with her colleague Lloyd A. Kaplan).[18]

Personal life

Kathryn Grove married fellow chemist Joseph Harrel Shipp in 1932.[19] They had four children together before they divorced.[6] She died from a heart attack on October 14, 1977, aged 73 years, in Tiburon, California.[20]

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References
  1. "She Helped Apollo Mission". The News Journal. August 13, 1970. p. 10. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "W. S. Conner, Longtime Maderan, Dies At Age 93". Madera Tribune. March 26, 1959. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  3. "Funeral Today For Mrs. Conner Who Died Friday". Madera Tribune. April 14, 1958. p. 1. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  4. "Miss Kathryn Grove Receives Honor". Madera Mercury. February 27, 1925. p. 2. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  5. "Dr. Kathryn Shipp Explosive Expert". Madera Tribune. January 6, 1967. p. 3. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  6. Hutchinson, Louise (May 25, 1967). "About Women in Washington". Chicago Tribune. p. 99. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "National Research Council Fellowships". Report of the National Research Council. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1930–1931. p. 83.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  8. "Former Madera Girl is Honored at Yale". Madera Tribune. April 10, 1930. p. 2. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  9. "New Explosive Set for Moon". The Morning News. January 10, 1967. p. 3. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Government Career Women To Receive Federal Award". The Chicago Defender. February 11, 1967. p. 20 – via ProQuest.
  11. Field, Simon Quellen (2017-07-01). Boom!: The Chemistry and History of Explosives. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781613738085.
  12. B, Johnson, Lyndon (1968-01-01). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1967. Best Books on. pp. 288–290. ISBN 9781623768959.
  13. "Kathryn Shipp Honored at Mills". Madera Mercury. June 21, 1967. p. 5. Retrieved September 22, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  14. Reed, Elaine (June 12, 1967). "Mills Honorees Look Back on Careers". Oakland Tribune. p. 16. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  15. "Dr. Kathryn Shipp, Winner of Federal Woman's Award". Naval Research Reviews: 9. March 1967.
  16. Preparation of 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzyl halides (1964), patent application filed by Kathryn G. Shipp; application granted 1966, U. S. Patent Office. US3267159A.
  17. Hexanitrostilbene (1964), patent application filed by Kathryn G. Shipp; application granted 1970, U. S. Patent Office, US3505413A.
  18. Polynitrobenzophenone (1967), patent application filed by Kathryn G. Shipp and Lloyd A. Kaplan; application granted 1971, U. S. Patent Office; US3574758A.
  19. "Shipp-Grove". The News Journal. June 27, 1932. p. 10. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Dr. Kathryn Shipp; Discovery Helped in Moon Landing". The News Journal. October 26, 1977. p. 51. Retrieved September 23, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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