Harold Urey
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| Harold Urey | |
|---|---|
| Name | Harold Urey |
| Caption | Urey in 1964 |
| Birth date | 29 April 1893 |
| Birth place | Walkerton, Indiana |
| Death date | 5 January 1981 |
| Death place | La Jolla, California |
| Fields | Physical chemistry |
| Workplaces | University of Copenhagen, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, University of California, San Diego |
| Alma mater | University of Montana, University of California, Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Gilbert N. Lewis |
| Known for | Discovery of deuterium, Miller–Urey experiment, Urey–Bradley force field, Cosmochemistry |
| Prizes | Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1934), Willard Gibbs Award (1934), Davy Medal (1940), Franklin Medal (1943), J. Lawrence Smith Medal (1962), National Medal of Science (1964), Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1966), Priestley Medal (1973) |
Harold Urey was an American physical chemist whose pioneering work in isotopes and the origins of life earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934. He is best known for the discovery of deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen, and for the landmark Miller–Urey experiment, which simulated conditions on early Earth to study the chemical origins of life. His research profoundly impacted fields ranging from nuclear chemistry and cosmochemistry to planetary science and astrobiology.
Early Life and Education
Born in Walkerton, Indiana, he was the son of a schoolteacher and a minister. After teaching in rural schools in Montana, he earned a degree in zoology from the University of Montana in 1917. Following work with the Barrett Chemical Company during World War I, he pursued graduate studies in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under the renowned Gilbert N. Lewis. He completed his doctorate in 1923 with a thesis on the heat capacity of gases, after which he traveled to Copenhagen for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Theoretical Physics under Niels Bohr.
Career
Urey began his academic career at Johns Hopkins University as an associate in chemistry. In 1929, he moved to Columbia University, where he conducted his Nobel Prize-winning research. During World War II, he played a crucial role in the Manhattan Project, leading the group at Columbia University that developed the gaseous diffusion process for uranium-235 enrichment. After the war, he became a professor at the University of Chicago and later helped establish the University of California, San Diego, where he spent the remainder of his career. He also served as a science advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Research and Discoveries
His most famous achievement was the isolation of deuterium in 1931, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This work on isotope separation was foundational for later developments in nuclear physics and thermonuclear weapons. In the 1950s, with his graduate student Stanley Miller, he conducted the famous Miller–Urey experiment, demonstrating that amino acids could be formed from simple compounds like methane, ammonia, and water under simulated prebiotic conditions. He also made significant contributions to cosmochemistry, developing methods to determine paleotemperatures from oxygen isotope ratios in carbonate fossils and theorizing about the chemical composition of the Solar System.
Awards and Honors
In addition to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he received numerous prestigious awards, including the Willard Gibbs Award, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society, and the Franklin Medal. He was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Lyndon B. Johnson and later received the Priestley Medal, the highest honor of the American Chemical Society. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and was a foreign member of the Royal Society.
Personal Life
He married Frieda Daum in 1926, and they had four children. A deeply concerned public intellectual, he was an outspoken advocate for nuclear arms control following his work on the Manhattan Project. In his later years in La Jolla, he remained active in research and public policy debates. He passed away in 1981 and was buried at the Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego.
Category:American chemists Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry Category:Manhattan Project people