Played leading role in the development
William A. Chupka, a professor emeritus of chemistry at Yale who is internationally known for his work in experimental chemical physics, died Jan. 21 at the age of 83.
Chupka, a member of the Yale faculty from 1975 until his retirement in 1993, collaborated with Mark Inghram of the University of Chicago to develop the technique of high-temperature mass spectrometry, which made it possible for the first time to identify and quantify the composition of atoms and molecules in high-temperature vapors. With Joseph Berkowitz of the Argonne National Laboratory, Chupka developed photoionization mass spectroscopy. His other research interests included excitation, ionization and dissociation of molecules by electron impact and photon absorption, photoelectron spectroscopy, kinetics of unimolecular dissociations of ion-molecule reactions and of chemi-ionization reactions, vacuum-ultra violet spectroscopy, high Rydberg states, high temperature chemistry and the dynamics of laser-induced processes.
Born in 1923 in Pittston, Pennsylvania, Chupka graduated from the University of Scranton in 1943. After serving three years in the U.S. Army, he earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. He was an instructor at Harvard College from 1951 to 1954, when he moved to Argonne National Laboratory as an associate physicist and began a 20-year career there. Chupka was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1961 and was named a senior physicist at Argonne in 1962.
Chupka joined the Yale faculty as a professor of chemistry. Among other subjects, he offered an advanced course in molecular spectroscopy. Later in his career, he became known for playing a central role in the evolution of laser multiphoton ionization.
In a scientific appreciation of Chupka that appeared in the Journal of Physical Chemistry in 1995, the Yale chemistry professor was hailed for his "profound intuitive understanding and remarkably unassuming manner," which, his colleagues noted, made him an "ideal collaborator" with others in his field.
Chupka is survived by his wife, Olive Pirani Chupka; his daughter Jocelyn Schultz and her husband Peter Schultz of San Diego, California, his son Marc Chupka and his wife Lois Trojan of Silver Springs, Maryland; and five grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Thomas More Development Fund, 268 Park St., New Haven, CT 06511 or to Multiple Myeloma Research, 383 Main Ave., 5th floor, Norwalk, CT 06851.
T H I S
of mass spectrometry techniques
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