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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Larned Asprey (1919-2005) was an American chemist. He was born on March 19, 1919.

Asprey obtained a B.S. in chemistry from Iowa State University. He was then drafted in the Army during the Second World War. As a result of his background in chemistry, he was assigned to work with Glenn T. Seaborg on the separation and purification of plutonium at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago. Asprey was one of seventy Manhattan Project workers to sign the Szilard Petition.

After the war, Asprey obtained a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley. In 1949 Asprey joined the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory where he researched the chemistry of actinide elements. He worked there until his retirement in 1986. His work at the lab was critical to the modern understanding of both actinide and lanthanide elements.

On March 6, 2005 Asprey died in Mesilla Park, New Mexico.

Larned B. Asprey’s Timeline
1919 Mar 19th Born in Sioux City, Iowa.

1940 Obtained a B.S. in chemistry from Iowa State University.

1941 Drafted into the Army.

1944 Assigned to the Metallurgical Laboratory.

1949 Received a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley.

1949 Joined the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

1986 Retired from Los Alamos.

2005 Mar 6th Died in Mesilla Park, New Mexico.

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