Keystone Steel and Iron he took samples of molten iron and tested them to see if the chemical composition of carbon, sulfur, manganese and phosphorus was suitable for pouring steel. When Beckman turned 18 in August 1918, he enlisted in the United States Marines. After three months at marine boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina, he was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, for transit to the war in Europe. Because of a train delay, another unit embarked in place of Beckman's unit. Then, counted into groups in the barracks, Beckman missed being sent to Russia by one space in line. Instead, Arnold spent Thanksgiving at the local YMCA, where he met 17-year-old Mabel Stone Meinzer, who was helping to serve the meal. Mabel would become his wife. A few days later, the armistice was signed, ending the war. University education Beckman attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign beginning in the fall of 1918. During his freshman year, he worked with Carl Shipp Marvel on the synthesis of organic mercury compounds, but both men became ill from exposure to toxic mercury. As a result, Beckman changed his major from organic chemistry to physical chemistry, where he worked with Worth Rodebush, T. A. White, and Gerhard Dietrichson. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1922 and his master's degree in physical chemistry in 1923. For his master's degree he studied the thermodynamics of aqueous ammonia solutions, a subject introduced to him by T. A. White. Soon after arriving at the University of Illinois, Beckman joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He was initiated into Zeta chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma, the chemistry fraternity, in 1921 and the Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Fraternity in December 1922. Beckman decided to go to California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for his doctorate. He stayed there for a year, before returning to New York to be near his fiancée, Mabel, who was working as a secretary for the Equitable Life Assurance Society. He found a job with Western Electric's engineering department, the precursor to the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Working with Walter A. Shewhart, Beckman developed quality control programs for the manufacture of vacuum tubes and learned about circuit design. It was here that Beckman discovered his interest in electronics. Beckman married Mabel on June 10, 1925. In 1926 the couple moved back to California and Beckman resumed his studies at Caltech. He became interested