Early chemical career and the beginning of Skylark thumb|A scene from the first installment of The Skylark of Space, August 1928 After college, Smith was a junior chemist for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., developing standards for butter and for oysters,Moskowitz p. 13. while studying food chemistry at George Washington University. During World War I, he "wanted to fly a Jenny, but chemists were too scarce. (Or were Jennies too valuable?)" He ended up being sent to the Commission for Relief in Belgium headed by Herbert Hoover. His draft card, partly illegible, seems to show that Smith requested exemption from military service, based on his wife's dependence and on his contribution to the war effort as a civilian chemist.Draft card (partly illegible). June 5, 1917. Retrieved from Ancestry.com July 2007.
Early chemical career and the beginning of Skylark thumb|A scene from the first installment of The Skylark of Space, August 1928 After college, Smith was a junior chemist for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., developing standards for butter and for oysters,Moskowitz p. 13. while studying food chemistry at George Washington University. During World War I he "wanted to fly a Jenny, but chemists were too scarce. (Or were Jennies too valuable?)" He ended up being sent to the Commission for Relief in Belgium headed by Herbert Hoover. His draft card, partly illegible, seems to show that Smith requested exemption from military service, based on his wife's dependence and on his contribution to the war effort as a civilian chemist.Draft card (partly illegible). June 5, 1917. Retrieved from Ancestry.com July 2007.