The University of Tennessee's interest in the chemical element Rhenium began in February 1940 when Dr. Hiskey, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, joined the staff. Although rhenium was originally only available from Germany (where it had been discovered in 1925), trace amounts were later found in flue-dust, a byproduct of copper recovery, at the Miami Copper Company in Miami, Arizona. The University of Tennessee entered into a contract with this organization and processed twenty tons of flue-dust in an experiment station in Berry Hall between 1941 and 1966. In 1966, however, the Miami Copper Company changed their wasting method to get a higher yield of copper, thus reducing the amount of rhenium in the flue-dust. A profitable recovery of Rhenium was no longer feasible and so the rhenium experiment station closed down.