Indium Corporation is a materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil. Founded in 1934 in Utica, New York, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
History
In 1863, the element indium was discovered by Professor Ferdinand Reich (1799–1882) and his assistant Hieronymous Theodor Richter (1824–1898) while at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Germany. Reich, who was color blind, asked Richter to examine a yellow precipitate from some local zinc ores. Spectrographic studies for thallium on the sample of sphaleritic ore revealed some undiscovered indigo-blue lines. That newly discovered element was named indium for the characteristic lines of its spectrum. Other chemists began working with indium to identify its properties. In 1864, J. A. R. Newlands made an early prediction that "when the equivalent of indium is determined, it will be found to bear a simple relation to the elements of the group to which it will be assigned." R. E. Myer's work, as early as 1868, noted that when potassium cyanide is added to a solution of indium salt and boiled, the indium is precipitated out as the hydroxide, an early test that would lead to electrodepositing the metals many decades later. Reich and Richter were meant to present an ingot of indium at The International Exposition of 1867 (the second World's Fair) in Paris, but, fearing its theft, they instead displayed an 0.5 kg ingot of lead. Over the next 60 years, indium was considered a laboratory curiosity. "In 1924, an order was placed with a prominent New York chemical supply company for a substantial quantity of indium. After several months of correspondence with foreign sources, one gram of the metal was located and purchased, it being all that was then available in the world. It was valued at ten dollars a gram." In 1924, platinum was one of the most valuable metals at the time at $133.52 per ounce – the equivalent of $2,010.32 in 2021. Indium was 212 percent more valuable.
Dr. William S. Murray, Daniel Gray, and John Dyer, Jr.
Dr. William Stanley Murray (1887-1972) was born in Stillson Hill, Warren County, Pa., just across the New York state line from Chautauqua County, the westernmost county in New York. He was the son of George Campbell, who was engaged in the oil production business, and Armeina (Kay) Murray. Dr. Murray matriculated at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., studying chemistry under the tutelage of Profs. Dr. Joseph Frank McGregory (1855-1934) and Roy Burnett Smith (1875-1940). Dr. McGregory shared of his pupil: "He couldn't be kept within the confines of any course so we just gave him a laboratory desk and didn't bother him." "We just turned him loose to investigate, because he seemed happy to tackle new and untried problems." Dr. Murray graduated with a bachelor's of science degree in 1910. He joined the university's board of trustees in 1926, and on October 15, 1939, Dr. Murray was awarded a doctor of science from the university for his contributions in developing commercial uses of indium. In 1910 Dr. Murray joined the Utica Pipe Foundry as a chemist. It was located at the corner of Broad Street and Dwyer Avenue in Utica, sharing the opposite corner block occupied by the Willoughby Factory. When the foundry went bankrupt in January 1914, Dr. Murray became a consulting chemist for Oneida Community. He also established his own firm, William S. Murray, Inc. – consulting engineers specializing in chemistry – which he used to render valuable assistance to other companies during World War I. The first financial backer of his new enterprise was Francis F. Despard, a Utica, N.Y. business person. On June 28, 1913, Dr. Murray married Margaret A. Collins (1888-1965) in Buffalo, N.Y. Margaret was an active and prominent leader in women's organizations in Utica, and was a school teacher for several years. The couple had two children: George C. Murray (1917-1996) – a graduate of Colgate University and an employee at the Indium Corporation of America, and Margaret Kay Murray (1919-2003) – a graduate of Vassar College. Within a month of receiving her degree, Margaret was in charge of a laboratory for the Camden Wire Co., Inc. of Camden, N.Y., and joined her father as a consultant at William S. Murray, Inc. to provide technical assistance to many companies. Daniel Gray (1889-1973) was born on November 1, 1889, in Chicago, Ill., the son of Christian N.E. Gray and Elizabeth Ann Olsen. Daniel attended James Millikin University, Decatur, Ill. In 1920, he wed Roberta Faith (1897-1977), and the couple had four children; three died in infancy.
John Robert Dyer, Jr., (1910-1982) was born on October 17, 1910, in Yardley, Pa., the second of three sons to John R., Sr. (1880-?) and Ella (Keebler) Dyer (1880-?). In 1923, he moved to and attended school in Clayville, N.Y. (now Sauquoit Valley) before transferring to Utica Free Academy (approximately 10 miles away) and graduating in 1928. On June 2, 1932, he graduated with a degree in "Chemistry, Dyeing, and Printing" from The Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, Pa. He served as vice-president of the school's class of 1931–1932. On February 3, 1940, he married Ruth Caroline Bailey in Utica. The couple had one son: John R. Dyer, III.
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