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Harold Urey
Harold Clayton Urey ForMemRS (/ˈjʊəri/ YOOR-ee; 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, as well as contributing 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, Berkeley. 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.
Urey speculated that the early terrestrial atmosphere was composed of ammonia, methane, and hydrogen. One of his Chicago graduate students was Stanley L. Miller, who showed in the Miller–Urey experiment that, if such a mixture were exposed to electric sparks and water, it can interact to produce amino acids, commonly considered the building blocks of life. Work with isotopes of oxygen led to pioneering the new field of paleoclimatic research. In 1958, he accepted a post as a professor at large at the new University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he helped create the science faculty. He was one of the founding members of UCSD's school of chemistry, which was created in 1960. He became increasingly interested in space science, and when Apollo 11 returned Moon rock samples from the Moon, Urey examined them at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. Lunar astronaut Harrison Schmitt said that Urey approached him as a volunteer for a one-way mission to the Moon, stating "I will go, and I don't care if I don't come back."
Harold Clayton Urey was born on April 29, 1893, in Walkerton, Indiana, the son of Samuel Clayton Urey, a school teacher and a minister in the Church of the Brethren, and his wife, Cora Rebecca née Reinoehl. Of mostly German ancestry, the family name had English origins. He had a younger brother, Clarence, and a younger sister, Martha. The family moved to Glendora, California, after Samuel became seriously ill with tuberculosis, in hopes that the climate would improve his health. When it became clear that he would die, the family moved back to Indiana to live with Cora's widowed mother. Samuel died when Harold was six years old.
Urey was educated in an Amish grade school, from which he graduated at the age of 14. He then attended high school in Kendallville, Indiana. After graduating in 1911, he obtained a teacher's certificate from Earlham College, and taught in a small school house in Indiana. He later moved to Montana, where his mother was then living, and continued to teach there.
Urey entered the University of Montana in Missoula in the autumn of 1914. Unlike Eastern universities of the time, the University of Montana was co-educational in both students and teachers. Urey earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in zoology there in 1917.
As a result of the United States entry into World War I that same year, there was strong pressure to support the war effort. Urey had been raised in a religious sect that opposed war. One of his professors suggested that he support the wartime effort by working as a chemist. Urey took a job with the Barrett Chemical Company in Philadelphia, making TNT, rather than joining the army as a soldier. After the war, he returned to the University of Montana as an instructor in chemistry.
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Harold Urey
Harold Clayton Urey ForMemRS (/ˈjʊəri/ YOOR-ee; 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, as well as contributing 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, Berkeley. 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.
Urey speculated that the early terrestrial atmosphere was composed of ammonia, methane, and hydrogen. One of his Chicago graduate students was Stanley L. Miller, who showed in the Miller–Urey experiment that, if such a mixture were exposed to electric sparks and water, it can interact to produce amino acids, commonly considered the building blocks of life. Work with isotopes of oxygen led to pioneering the new field of paleoclimatic research. In 1958, he accepted a post as a professor at large at the new University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he helped create the science faculty. He was one of the founding members of UCSD's school of chemistry, which was created in 1960. He became increasingly interested in space science, and when Apollo 11 returned Moon rock samples from the Moon, Urey examined them at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. Lunar astronaut Harrison Schmitt said that Urey approached him as a volunteer for a one-way mission to the Moon, stating "I will go, and I don't care if I don't come back."
Harold Clayton Urey was born on April 29, 1893, in Walkerton, Indiana, the son of Samuel Clayton Urey, a school teacher and a minister in the Church of the Brethren, and his wife, Cora Rebecca née Reinoehl. Of mostly German ancestry, the family name had English origins. He had a younger brother, Clarence, and a younger sister, Martha. The family moved to Glendora, California, after Samuel became seriously ill with tuberculosis, in hopes that the climate would improve his health. When it became clear that he would die, the family moved back to Indiana to live with Cora's widowed mother. Samuel died when Harold was six years old.
Urey was educated in an Amish grade school, from which he graduated at the age of 14. He then attended high school in Kendallville, Indiana. After graduating in 1911, he obtained a teacher's certificate from Earlham College, and taught in a small school house in Indiana. He later moved to Montana, where his mother was then living, and continued to teach there.
Urey entered the University of Montana in Missoula in the autumn of 1914. Unlike Eastern universities of the time, the University of Montana was co-educational in both students and teachers. Urey earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in zoology there in 1917.
As a result of the United States entry into World War I that same year, there was strong pressure to support the war effort. Urey had been raised in a religious sect that opposed war. One of his professors suggested that he support the wartime effort by working as a chemist. Urey took a job with the Barrett Chemical Company in Philadelphia, making TNT, rather than joining the army as a soldier. After the war, he returned to the University of Montana as an instructor in chemistry.
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