Joseph Howard Mathews (October 15, 1881 – April 15, 1970) was an American physical chemist, university professor, and expert on firearm identification.
His parents sent Joseph to public school in nearby Berlin, a city that straddles the boundary between Waushara and Green Lake counties.
in chemistry in 1903, writing a senior thesis on nitrosyl selenic acid, based on research under the supervision of Victor Lenher (1873–1927).
Kahlenberg, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, had been a doctoral student in Leipzig of Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932), one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry.
While Richards was on leave as an exchange professor at the University of Berlin, Mathews obtained a temporary instructorship in physical and industrial chemistry at Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland.
Mathews later collaborated with Wisconsin colleagues Farrington Daniels (1889–1972) and John Warren Williams (1898–1988) to publish Experimental Physical Chemistry (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1929; 475 pages).
Mathews had the central role [9] in making Wisconsin a center for physical chemical research on colloidal systems.
[10] Mathews was instrumental in bringing Theodor ("The," pronounced "Tay") Svedberg (1884–1971) from Uppsala University to Madison as a Visiting Professor in 1923.
Williams formed a colloid chemistry research group in Madison, including doctoral students Robert Arnold Alberty and Louis Gosting.
[16] He enjoyed detective work, once thwarting thefts of potable 95% ethyl alcohol from the chemistry labs by creating a new label: "Poison.
"[17] The chemistry fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma was organized[18][19] by a group of nine undergraduates, meeting in Mathews' Madison rooming house.
Jean married Charles C. Watson,[20] a collaborator with her father and with John Warren Williams in establishing the colloid chemistry research group at the University of Wisconsin.