George C. Hale

George Clyde Hale (September 29, 1881 – November 3, 1948) received a patent in 1935 for the explosive ethylenedinitramine (EDNA) which was named Haleite in his honor. He was the Chief of the Chemical Department at the Picatinny Arsenal from 1929 to 1948 and through that position was issued 29 patents for explosives, propellant powders, delay powders, fuse powders, priming compositions and pyrotechnics. The Hale Building at the Picatinny Arsenal is a research facility that honors his contributions to military exposives.

Biography Early life

Hale was born in Cass, Sullivan County, Indiana. His parents were Charles Hale (b. July 16, 1862), a coal miner who also ran a grocery store, and Rosette Bledsoe Hale. Hale graduated from Sullivan High School in 1910 and taught school for a year before enrolling in college. He was married to Mary Allen Raines Hale and had 2 sons, George Hale Jr and Allen C. Hale, Ph.D. which was also published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. This thesis outlines the production of the brisant explosive cyclotrimethylene trinitramine which was also known as hexagon, cylconite and RDX. His Ph.D. was only the 6th one conferred by the Chemistry Department at Indiana University.

The George C. Hale Building at Picatinny was dedicated April 27, 1962. A bronze plaque on the structure bears the inscription: "George C. Hale 1881-1948 The efforts which are undertaken here perpetuate the ideals and aspirations which Dr. George C. Hale devoted his life." The building is a memorial to his leadership and his contributions to the field of explosive research.

Picatinny Arsenal

When the United States formally entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Hale began work as a research chemist at Picatinny Arsenal. The primary explosive used by the US during that war was trinitrotoluene (TNT). About 2,500,00 tons of high explosives containing TNT and its derivatives were used by the contending powers during the war resulting in an estimated 10 million casualties.

Leading up to and during World War II, Hale assisted with the production of RDX in the US at plants at the Wabash Ordnance Plant near Newport, Indiana using the British discovered Woolwich method and the Houston Ordnance Plant in Eastern Tennessee using the Bachmann process discovered by Werner E. Bachmann at the University of Michigan.