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Biography
AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjectsRelationships
PeopleInstitutionsResources
Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as SubjectHarold Clayton Urey
Dates
April 29, 1893 – January 5, 1981
Authorized Form of Name
Urey, Harold Clayton, 1893-1981
Additional Forms of Names
Urey, H. C. (Harold Clayton), 1893-1981
Urey, Harold C. (Harold Clayton), 1893-1981
Biography
Abstract
Harold Urey was Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at University of California, San Diego (1970-1981). Other institutional affiliations included University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University. His research interests included entropy of gases, atomic structure, absorption spectra and structure of molecules, discovery of deuterium, properties and separation of isotopes, exchange reactions, measurement of paleotemperature, and chemical problems of the origin of the earth, meteorites, moon and solar system.
Important Dates
April 29, 1893Birth, Walkerton (Ind.).
1917Obtained BS in Zoology, University of Montana, Missoula (Mont.).
1918 – 1919Research Chemist, Barrett Chemical Company.
1919 – 1921Instructor in Chemistry, University of Montana.
1923Obtained PhD in Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley (Calif.).
1923 – 1924American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellow, University of Copenhagen.
1924 – 1929Associate in Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (Md.).
1929 – 1945Associate Professor of Chemistry (1929-1934); Professor of Chemistry (1934-1945); and Executive Officer, Department of Chemistry (1939-1942), Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).
1933 – 1940Editor, Journal of Chemical Physics.
1934Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his discovery of heavy hydrogen".
1935Member, National Academy of Sciences.
1940 – 1941Member, Committee on Uranium, National Defense Research Committee.
1941 – 1942Member, Section on Uranium, Office of Scientific Research and Development.
1942 – 1945Member, Executive Committee (1942-1945) and Program Chief (1942), Section S-1, Office of Scientific Research and Development.
1942 – 1945Project Leader, Columbia SAM Laboratories, Manhattan Project.
1945 – 1958Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry (1945-1952) and Martin A. Reyerson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry (1952-1958), Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago (Ill.).
1946 – 1951Vice Chair, Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.
1956 – 1957George Eastman Visiting Professor, Oxford University.
1958 – 1981Professor-at-Large of Chemistry (1958-1970) and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry (1970-1981), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.).
1964Awarded National Medal of Science.
January 5, 1981Death, La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.).
Occupation
Physical chemist.
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
Relationships
People
Family
Reinoehl, Cora Rebecca
Mother.
Urey, Frieda
Wife. Married in 1926.
Urey, Samuel Clayton
Father.
Advisors & Collaborators
Post-doc advisor at University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet).
Cohn, Mildred, 1913-2009
Advised by Urey at Columbia University.
Craig, Harmon
Advised by Urey at University of Chicago, "The geochemistry of the stable carbon isotopes."
Donn, Bertram
Research advised by Urey at University of Chicago.
Emiliani, Cesare
Advised by Urey at University of Miami.
Hutchinson, Clyde A., Jr.
Post-doc advised by Urey at Columbia University.
Lewis, Gilbert Newton, 1875-1946
PhD advisor at University of California, Berkeley.
Miller, Stanley,
Advised by Urey at University of Chicago, "A production of organic compounds under possible primitive earth conditions."
Pegram, George Braxton, 1876-1958
Collaborated on experiments at Columbia University.
Advised by Urey at University of Chicago.
Ruark, Arthur Edward, 1899-
Co-Wrote "Atoms, Molecules and Quanta."
Wasserburg, Gerald J. (Gerald Joseph), 1927-
Advised by Urey at University of Chicago, "A40 - K40 dating : Age of meteorites by the A40 - K40 method."
Colleagues
Allison, Samuel King, 1900-1965
Both employed at the Office of Scientific Research and Development and University of Chicago, Institute for Nuclear Studies.
Beams, Jesse W. (Jesse Wakefield), 1898-1977
Both worked on the Technical Subcommittee, Advisory Committee on Uranium.
Both worked on the Technical Subcommittee, Advisory Committee on Uranium.
Both employed at University of California, San Diego.
Both employed at University of California, San Diego.
Both employed at Columbia University and University of Chicago, Institute for Nuclear Studies.
Both employed at University of Chicago, Institute for Nuclear Studies.
Both employed at University of Chicago, Institute for Nuclear Studies.
Both employed at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego.
Both employed at Johns Hopkins University.
York, Herbert F. (Herbert Frank)
Both employed at University of California, San Diego.
Additional
Alexander, Jerome, 1876-1959
Amrine, Milton Frederick, 1918-1974
Anshen, Ruth Nanda
Arnold, James, 1923-
Bergmann, M. (Max)
Birge, Raymond T. (Raymond Thayer), 1887-
Broecker, Wallace S., 1931-2019
Cameron, A. G. W. (Alastair Graham Walter), 1925-
Cohen, Karl
Condon, Edward Uhler, 1902-1974
Epstein, Samuel, 1919-
Fajans, Kasimir, 1887-1975
Goudsmit, Samuel A. (Samuel Abraham), 1902-1978
Grosse, Aristid von, 1905-1985
Hammett, Louis P. (Louis Plack), 1894-1987
Havens, William W. (William Westerfield), 1920-2004
Herzfeld, Karl F. (Karl Ferdinand), 1892-
Hoyt, Frank Clark, 1898-
Humason, Milton L. (Milton La Salle), 1891-1972
Kemble, Edwin C. (Edwin Crawford), 1889-
Kowarski, Lew
Kulp, J. Laurence (John Laurence),
Libby, Willard F.
Loeb, Leonard B. (Leonard Benedict), 1891-
Lorentz, H. A. (Hendrik Antoon), 1853-1928
MacDonald, Gordon J. (Gordon James), 1929-2002
Newburn, R. L. (Ray L.),
Nier, Alfred O. (Alfred Otto), 1911-1994
Nierenberg, William Aaron, 1919-2000
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967
Richardson, O. W. (Owen Willans), 1879-1959
Roe, Anne, 1904-1991
Sagan, Carl, 1934-1996
Schwarzschild, Martin
Shenstone, A. G. (Allen Goodrich)
Siegel, K. M. (Keeve Milton), 1923-
Slater, John C. (John Clarke), 1900-1976
Smith, Cyril Stanley, 1903-1992
Smyth, Henry De Wolf, 1898-1986
Stewart, George Walter, 1876-1956
Suess, Hans Eduard, 1909-
Uhlenbeck, George Eugène, 1900-1988
Weber, Louis Russell, 1901-1989
Wood, Robert Williams, 1868-1955
Institutions
Major Positions
Columbia University. Department of Chemistry
Associate Professor; Professor of Chemistry; and Executive Officer.
Johns Hopkins University. Department of Chemistry
Associate in Chemistry.
Manhattan Project (U.S.)
Project Leader, Columbia SAM Laboratories.
University of California, San Diego. Department of Chemistry
Professor-at-Large of Chemistry and Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.
University of Chicago. Institute for Nuclear Studies
Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry and Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry.
University of Montana--Missoula
Obtained BS in Zoology (1917). Instructor in Chemistry.
University of Oxford. Department of Physics
George Eastman Visiting Professor.
Professional Activities & Affiliations
Editor, Journal of Chemical Physics.
Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists
Vice Chair.
Københavns universitet
American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellow.
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Member.
United States. Office of Scientific Research and Development
Member, Section on Uranium; Member, Executive Committee, Section S-1; and Program Chief, Section S-1.
United States. Office of Scientific Research and Development. National Defense Research Committee
Member, Committee on Uranium.
University of California, Berkeley. Department of Chemistry
Obtained PhD (1923).
University of California, Berkeley. Department of Physics
Resources
Archival Resources
Author
George Walter Stewart papers, 1899-1955.
Main Library. Archives
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1420, USA
Hannes Alfvén papers, 1945-1991.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Hans Eduard Suess papers, 1875-1989.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Harmon Craig papers, 1923-2005.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Harold C. Urey papers, 1932-1953.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Harold Clayton Urey papers, 1929-1981.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
James Arnold papers, 1946-1998.
Mandeville Special Collections Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Jerome Alexander correspondence, 1908-1953.
Rare Books and Manuscripts Division
New York Public Library
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018, USA
K. M. Siegel papers, 1957-1973.
Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2113, USA
Kasimir Fajans papers, 1912-1975.
Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2113, USA
Nobel laureates on scientific research project : oral history, 1964.
Oral History Research Office
Columbia University
Box 20, Room 801 Butler Library, New York, NY 10027, USA
O. W. Richardson papers, 1897-1959 (bulk 1920-1940).
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, TX 78713-7219, USA
Oral history interview with Harold Clayton Urey, 1964 March 24.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Reminiscences of Harold Clayton Urey : oral history, 1964.
Oral History Research Office
Columbia University
Box 20, Room 801 Butler Library, New York, NY 10027, USA
Ruth N. Anshen papers, 1938-1986.
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Columbia University
Butler Library, 6th Floor East, New York, NY 10027, USA
Subject
Allen Shenstone autobiography, 1962.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Anne Roe papers, 1949-1971 (bulk).
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Atomic energy for military purposes, 1945 [typescript].
Manuscripts and Archives Department
Hagley Museum and Library
298 Buck Road East, Greenville, DE 19807, USA
Clyde A. Hutchison, Jr. papers, 1913-2000.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Columbia University Department of Physics Historical Records, 1862-1997.
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Columbia University
Butler Library, 6th Floor East, New York, NY 10027, USA
Edward Condon papers, circa 1920-1974.
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Edwin C. Kemble papers [microform], 1919-1937.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists records, 1946-1951.
The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections
University of Chicago
1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Georg von Hevesy scientific correspondence, 1910-1966.
Niels Bohr Archive
Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark
Gerald Wasserburg papers, 1927-2011.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Gilbert Newton Lewis papers, 1908-1945.
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA, 94720-6000, USA
Harold Urey memorial symposium [sound recording] : Harold Urey, the scientist and Harold Urey, the man / 1981 February 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
History of atomic energy collection, 1896-1991.
Libraries. Special Collections
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
Karl Herzfeld papers, 1914-1977.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Karl P. Cohen papers, 1931-2010.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Lecture on stable isotopes from CO2 [videorecording].
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Louis R. Weber notes on Harold Clayton Urey, circa 1969.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Martin Schwarzschild papers, 1939-1994.
Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
Princeton University
1 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Max Bergmann papers, circa 1930-1945.
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Mildred Cohn papers, 1947-1980.
Library.
American Philosophical Society
105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Milton F. Amrine papers, 1925-1974.
Library. Special Collections Division
Georgetown University
37th and O Streets NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA
Milton L. Humason papers, 1948-1952.
Henry E. Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108, USA
Oral history interview with Alastair G. W. Cameron, 2003 February 10.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Aristid Victor Grosse, 1974 January 11 and April 5.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Carl Sagan, 1991 August 27.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Cyril Stanley Smith, 1976 September 23.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Frank Clark Hoyt, 1964 April 28.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Gordon J. MacDonald, 1993 November 15, 1994 March 18 and 1995 August 4.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Harmon Craig, 1996 April 29.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with J. Laurence Kulp, 1996 April 11, 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1960 February.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Leonard B. Loeb, 1962 August 7.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Lew Kowarski, 1974 November 20 and 2 August 1976.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Louis Plack Hammett, 1978 May 1 and 22.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Margaret Burbidge, 1978 July 13.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Marvin L. Goldberger, 1986 February 12.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Murray Gell-Mann, 1997 July 17 and 18.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral history interview with Norman Ramsey, 1978 December 19, 1979 January 5 and 18.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Philip Morrison, 2002 December 19 and 20.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with S. Keith Runcorn, 1993 September 16 and 17.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Samuel Epstein, 1985 December 19 and 26, 1986 January 10.
Institute Archives
California Institute of Technology
1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Oral history interview with Vannevar Bush, 1964.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Wallace S. Broecker, 1995 December 29, 1997 May 8 and June 6.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with Willard Frank Libby, 1979 April 12 and 16.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William Aaron Nierenberg, 1986 February 6 and June 26, 30.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Oral history interview with William W. Havens, 1991 February 21, July 17, 29, Augut 5, 12 and 14.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Physical Review records, 1940-1947.
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA
Ray L. Newburn collection.
Archives Division
Smithsonian Institution. National Air and Space Museum
MRC 322, Washington, DC, 20560, USA
Published Resources
Author
Atoms, molecules, and quanta / by Arthur Edward Ruark ... and Harold Clayton Urey …
The planets, their origin and development.
Subject
"Harold Clayton Urey: 1892-1981", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
"Harold Urey and the Discovery of Deuterium," Physics Today 35 (1982): 34-39
Harold C. Urey Physics Today obituary.