William Edwin Scott; Linked Smog to Cars

William Edwin Scott, 85, one of the first scientists to link smog to automobiles. A research physicist who was born in Oil City, Pa., and educated at Pennsylvania State University, Scott was head of the Chemical Kinetics Branch of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia from 1947 to 1957. There he helped develop a special instrument that could quantify trace compounds such as hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen in gas samples. Using that device at the Stanford Research Institute in Pasadena, Scott characterized, for the first time, the reaction mechanisms and composition of photochemical smog. In 1957, at a meeting of oil executives in Philadelphia, Scott reported that the institute had found a direct relationship between Los Angeles’ traffic and its smog. Robert L. Chass, head of what was then known as Southern California’s Air Pollution Control District, told The Times he was “happy to hear that the work of these scientists is confirming the findings of the [the district].” A year later Scott founded his own research laboratory, now known as Scott Specialty Gases, based in Plumsteadville, Pa., and his company soon acquired an automotive test facility in San Bernardino. There Scott directed studies that led to adoption of state and national auto emission standards. Scott was invited to the White House in 1967 to watch President Johnson sign the Clean Air Act. In 1974, Scott sold his interest in his original company and with Jack Marrin founded Scott-Marrin Inc. in Riverside. That company did research into standards for “ultra-pure” gasoline, and saw many of its calibration techniques adopted by the National Bureau of Standards. On Nov. 24 in Oceanside.