Wallace Reed Brode (12 June 1900 - August 10, 1974) was an American chemist.[1] [2] He was president of the American Chemical Society in 1969 and of the Optical Society of America in 1961.[3] He received the Priestley Medal in 1960.
Brode was born in Walla Walla, Washington, one of male triplets, the others being brothers Malcolm and Robert, each of whom became a distinguished scientist. He also had another older brother, Stanley. His father, Howard, was a biology professor at Whitman College, where Brode would earn his D.Sc. in 1921. While studying for his Ph.D. at University of Illinois under Roger Adams, he developed a lifelong interest in dyes and spectroscopy.
He was on the faculty of Ohio State University (1928 - 48, professor 1939 - 48); head of the science department at US Naval Ordnance Test Station 1945 - 47; Science Adviser to the US Secretary of State 1958 - 60 and director of Barnes Engineering Co. in Washington from 1960 onwards. He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science & the Public, from 1957 to 1972.
During his career he developed molecular model sets, using wooden rods and balls to create three-dimensional representations of molecular bonds in chemical compounds.