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Harold C. Urey

Harold Clayton Urey
Urey.jpg
Harold Urey
Born (1893-04-29)April 29, 1893
Walkerton, Indiana
Died January 5, 1981(1981-01-05) (aged 87)
La Jolla, California
Nationality United States
Fields Physical chemistry
Institutions University of Copenhagen
Johns Hopkins University
Columbia University
Institute for Nuclear Studies
University of Chicago
University of California, San Diego
Alma mater Earlham College
University of Montana
University of California, Berkeley
Doctoral advisor Gilbert N. Lewis
Doctoral students Stanley Miller
Harmon Craig
Mildred Cohn
Known for discovery of deuterium
Miller–Urey experiment
Urey–Bradley force field
Notable awards Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1934)
Willard Gibbs Award (1934)
Davy Medal (1940)
Franklin Medal (1943)
Medal for Merit (1946)
Fellow of the Royal Society (1947)
J. Lawrence Smith Medal (1962)
National Medal of Science (1964)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1966)
Priestley Medal (1973)
V. M. Goldschmidt Award (1975)
Signature

Harold Clayton Urey (April 29, 1893 – January 5, 1981) was an American physical chemist whose pioneering work on isotopes earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for the discovery of deuterium. He played a significant role in the development of the atom bomb, but may be most prominent for his contribution to theories on the development of organic life from non-living matter.

Born in Walkerton, Indiana, Urey studied thermodynamics under Gilbert N. Lewis at the University of California. After he received his PhD in 1923, he was awarded a fellowship by the American-Scandinavian Foundation to study at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He was a research associate at Johns Hopkins University before becoming an associate professor of Chemistry at Columbia University. In 1931, he began work with the separation of isotopes that resulted in the discovery of deuterium.

During World War II Urey turned his knowledge of isotope separation to the problem of uranium enrichment. He headed the group located at Columbia University that developed isotope separation using gaseous diffusion. The method was successfully developed, becoming the sole method used in the early post-war period. After the war, Urey became professor of chemistry at the Institute for Nuclear Studies, and later Ryerson professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago.


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