Harold C. Urey
| Harold Clayton Urey | |
|---|---|
Harold Urey
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| Born |
April 29, 1893 Walkerton, Indiana |
| Died | January 5, 1981 (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) |
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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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