Papers of Roger Gordon Bates

Roger Gordon Bates was born in Cummington, MA on May 20, 1912. He attended the University of Massachusetts and received his MA and PhD degrees (1936 and 1939) from Duke University. Upon graduation he applied for a position with the National Bureau of Standards, was accepted and remained with the NBS until his retirement 1969, whereupon Herbert A, Laitinen recruited him to teach at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Bates retired from this second career in 1979 but remained active, especially in the affairs of IUPAC, where he had served as Chair of the Committee on Electrochemical Data/ Analytical Division from 1953 through 1959. He wrote several well-received books on the determination of pH and shepherded the IUPAC Standard pH Scale through to publication. He was informally known as Mr. pH. Roger G. Bates died in Gainesville, FL on August 20 2007.