Wallace R. Brode

Wallace Reed Brode (1900-1974) was an American chemist born in Walla Walla, Washington, who specialized in spectroscopy and dyes, an interest he developed while earning his doctorate at the University of Illinois. He taught at Ohio State University from 1939 to 1948, headed the science department at the US Naval Ordnance Test Station from 1945 to 1947, served as Science Adviser to the United States Secretary of State from 1958 to 1960, and later directed the Barnes Engineering Company. He served as president of the American Chemical Society in 1969, the Optical Society of America in 1961, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1958, and he developed wooden ball-and-rod molecular model sets that became practical tools for chemistry teaching and research. He received the Priestley Medal in 1960.