MRI

As Wheeler Davey’s tenure as leader of the X-ray diffraction group came to an end with his retirement in 1949, other important faculty came to Penn State to lead X-ray diffraction into the second half of the 20th Century. One was Ray Pepinsky, who joined the Penn State faculty soon after Davey’s retirement. Pepinsky was a leading expert in the field of determination of structures, atomic locations, polarity, and bonding through detailed X-ray analysis.

Merrell Fenske joined the Penn State chemical engineering and chemistry faculty in 1929 as the Great Depression was dawning, inspiring him to focus his research on aiding the Pennsylvania petroleum industry.

Susan Brantley joined the Penn State Geoscience Faculty in 1986. Brantley’s research focused on low-temperature fluid-mineral interactions, biological reactions in water-rich soils, and the geochemical processes transforming rock into soil. From these natural weathering processes, she established key mechanisms and rates to predict geological stability, landscape evolution, and contaminant movement through soil and rocks.

Richard Hogg’s research impacted the mining and energy industries with breakthroughs in many areas of particle technology that enabled both more efficient processing of coal and other minerals, and safer conditions for employees working with these materials. Hogg joined the Penn State faculty in 1969 in the Department of Material Preparation, which later became the Department of E

David H. Rank’s wide range of breakthroughs in the field of optics all came while working at Penn State, where the Pennsylvania native spent his entire career from the moment he joined the University as a graduate student in 1930 to his retirement in 1972.