Helium, Child of the Sun

the long version

Clifford Seibel was a professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, and instrumental in the elevation of helium from a curiosity among scientists to an essential, bordering on existential, tool of human civilization. Here, he recounts its history, from the time of its discovery in the sun (hence the name of the element and the book), to the huge amount found in a Kansas natural gas well, to the US government employing Professor Seibel and his colleagues in producing the largest helium reserve the world has ever seen, and how this was used in ill-fated Airships, breathing gasses, and in welding. Along the way, you will find fact stranger than fiction, as we meet men who shout, dance, and blow up rags soaked in liquid oxygen to prove it wouldn't burn (I wish I were making that up).