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Home , Cesare Emiliani, Hans Suess, Harold Urey

A Tribute to Harold

Number49 December 3,1979 I remember how I felt when I first saw paper on “Lifelike forms in meteorites,” ’s picture on the cover of published in Science in 1962, as a prime Chemicai & Engineering News (C&EN) example of the “power” of citation in- in 1972. I Harold had just been awarded dexing in one of the earliest brochures the , which is given an- we produced.s The citation for this nually by the American Chemical Soci- paper has remained a very useful search ety to recognize distinguished service to key for the field of study it represents. . It is considered the greatest Urey’s concern with information honor in American chemistry and retrieval problems demonstrates his Harold Urey is certainly one of the remarkable versatility y. In addition to wodd’s great scientists. When I glanced winning accolades as a research scien- at Urey’s photograph in C&EN, I could tist, Urey has been honored for hk distinctly see Science Citation Index@ teaching ability and praised for his (SCP) volumes on the book shelf an social awareness. He pursues hk gar- arm’s length behind him. Thk pleased dening hobby with the dedication of a me, and I pointed it out to Urey in a let- career horticulturist. It is a special ter to him.z I’m sure it pleased him too. privilege to be acquainted with Harold He has been on ISP’s Board of Direc- Urey. So I want to provide a profile of tors since 1962, and has been a member some of the achievements of this genius. of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Harold Urey was born in Walkerton, SCI and Current Contentsm (CP) for Indiana, on April 29, 1893. He received nearly 15 years. his BS in chemistry with a major in fiist introduced me from the to Harold Urey in 1959. Since then in 1917. His experience during World Harold has provided many useful sug- War I is described in a biographical note gestions, a lot of good advice, and much that was submitted to the needed moral support. I have also ap- Committee: “When the preciated the warm hospitality of entered the World War he went to Phil- Harold and hk wife, Frieda. Last spring, adelphia to help in the manufacture of a smalf 1S1 delegation visited the Ureys. war materials. He regards this ex- We promised to return thk spring when perience as most fortunate, for it con- the desert is in bloom. vinced him that industrial chemistry was It was especially gratifying that not to be his major interest, and defi- Harold could tell me often that the SCI nitely directed hlm toward academic was “exceedingly useful.” Over the work.”q After the war Urey returned to years he introduced SCI to many col- the University of Montana where he leagues and friends. Thk sort of boost held the post of instructor of chemistry from a man of his bri~lance and honesty until he entered the University of was helpful to 1S1 in its formative years in 1921 to work on a doc- As a matter of fact, I used Harold’s torate in chemistry. 333 At the University of California at sity in 1929 and full professor in 1934. Berkeley Urey studied under Gilbert N. His work at Columbia led to the Nobel Lewis, well-known for his major con- prize that same year. To this day, tributions to the knowledge of the Harold considers to be his atom’s structure. Urey has often most important discovery.g His Nobel acknowledged the profound influence lecture was published in the German which hisprofessors had upon hisscien- journal Angewandte Chemie. lo He was tific career, and Lewis is one of those elected to the National Academy of that he has noted in particular.~ (p. XII) Sciences in 1935. Urey received his PhD in chemistry in Urey and other researchers had for 1923. His dissertation focused on the quite some time suspected the existence properties of d]atomic gases.~ of heavy , but these theoretical Immediately upon receiving his PhD, predictions had yet to be verified. At Urey was given a two-year fellowship Columbia in 1931 Urey studied the from the American-Scandinavian Foun- atomic spectrum of a sample of liquid dation to go to the Institute for hydrogen and discovered the presence Theoretical Physics in . of heavy hydrogen: about one part in There he continued hk studies, this time 5,(KKI of the ordinary hydrogen. Or- under the stimulating influence of Niels dinary hydrogen, atomic weight 1, con- Bohr, whose work on atomic structure tains one proton, one electron, and no was recognized in 1922 with the Nobel ; heavy hydrogen, atomic prize for physics. weight 2, contains, in addition, one When he returned to the US in 1924, neutron. He called this new Urey became a research associate in deuterium, from the Greek word mean- chemistry at ing second. in Baltimore, Maryland. He remained at No doubt the most far-reaching im- Johns Hopkins until 1929. During this pact of Urey’s discovery was that it con- time he collaborated with Arthur Ruark firmed the occurrence of . on the book Atoms, Molecules, and Heavy water is the combination of Quanta, which was published in 1930.T heavy hydrogen and oxygen: deutenum This work was a major contribution to oxide (D20). It is used to slow the activi- the fields of physics and chemistry. At ty of , and for this reason heavy the time of its publication, the physical water became important in atomic re- sciences had just been revolutionized by search. Urey continued his work on the the theory of quantum mechanics. c heroical properties and separation of Atoms, Molecules, and Quanta paved until World War II. the way for a link between that new area During World War II he became of abstract mathematical physics and directol of the separation proj- the whole field of chemistry.s ect of the Substitute Alloys Materials These years were very special ones for Laboratory (SAM) at Columbia, Harold Urey. On June 12, 1926 he and charged with the problem of separating Frieda Daum were married at her the isotopes of uranium for the atomic father’s home in Lawrence, Kansas. bomb project. After the war he was Their daughter Elizabeth was born in awarded the Congressional Medal for 1927, Frieda Rebecca in 1929, Mary Merit for his contributions to the pro- Alice in 1934, and their son John duction of fissionable material. Clayton in 1939. The Urey children have Urey joined the Fermi Institute for inherited their parents’ energy and in- Nuclear Studies at the University of telligence. Today all four have homes, Chicago in 1945. For seven years he was careers, and children of their own. Distinguished Service Professor of Urey was appointed associate pro- Chemistry, and during his last six years fessor of chemistry at Columbia Univer- at Chicago (1952-1958) he held the posi-

334 ty of Miami. Urey published with other researchers who were studying paleo- temperatures. 12,IS Two of these re- searchers, S. Epstein and H.A. Lowenstam, are now at the California Institute of Technology, Division of and in Pasadena. Also while at Chicago, Urey publish- ed numerous papers on the abundances of the elements in the solar system. He and research coop- erated on an extensive study of this mat- ter. 14.15 One of their papers, “Abun- dances of the elements in planets and Harold Urey meteorites, ” published in Handbuch der Phy.ik in 1958, remains highly cited tion of Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished with 221 citations from 1961-1979. The Service Professor of Chemistry. abundance tables which Urey and Suess Like so many others who worked on set up have undergone some revision, the atomic bomb, Harold Urey had am- but they are largely still accepted today. biguous feelings about its ultimate use. In 1952 Urey published The Planets: While at Chicago he joined other scien- Their Origin and Development. The tists who worked hard to defeat a bill book has been called “a tour de force which would have put future atomic which wifl surely stand as one of the research into the hands of the classics of science. ”s (p. XVI) It was the military. 11 Subsequently the Atomic first methodical chronology of the Energy Commission was formed. origin of the solar system, setting the The label “nuclear studies” may be stage for the field of misleading as to the focus of Urey’s (sometimes referred to as “planetary work during his time at the University of ”) and making Urey a Chicago. When Urey went from Colum- leader in it. The Planets is by no means bia to Chicago, hls research on ther- a subjective or reflective work. Urey’s modynamics and isotopes continued. studies of the origins of the solar system However, his remarkably wide-ranging (involving chemical composition, heat investigations reached into paleon- balances, etc. ) were as quantitative as tology, geochemistry, and astrophysics. possible given the available data. During a seminar, Urey suggested a Harold Urey was a founding member chemical origin of life. Later, three of of the faculty of the campus of the his students undertook to confirm thk University of California of San Diego at suggestion experimentally. Each of in 1958. Urey’s work has made these students, , Stanley the chemistry department there a lead- Miller, and G. J. Wasserburg, is now a ing center in the field of cosmochemis- respected scientist in his own right. And try. Urey remains the “star” of the all of them are members of the National department, although poor health has Academy of Sciences. recently prevented him from overseeing At Chicago, Urey became interested laboratory activity or conducting dis- in studying ancient climates by quan- cussion sessions with graduate students. titative methods. He and his student Everyone who knows Harold Urey is examined the paleo- familiar with hk incredible devotion to temperatures of the oceans. Emiliani hk work. But he has never been has continued this work at the Universi- closeted away in a laboratory or office,

335 never out of touch with the world. including the Research Institute of Harold Urey allows his brilliance to America Silver Medal ( 1935/ 1960), the range over social and political issues as Franklin Institute Medal (1943), and the well as scientific questions, and he is National Medal of Science ( 1964). But outspoken on such topics. praise from former students probably He is a member of the Union of Con- pleases him more than any award. cerned Scientists, a group of 2,300 There are continual words of praise scientists including six other Nobel for Urey at colloquia and in informal laureates, who in 1975 petitioned the campus conversations. Some former White House to decrease the produc- students put their praise into more en- tion of plants. The Union during forms. In 1964 Harmon Craig, of Concerned Scientists asks for suspen- Stanley Milfer, and G. J. Wasserburg sion of atomic power plant exports to edited a book. of papers entitled other countries and a slowdown of pro- isotopic and Cosmic Chemistry. s This duction of plants inside the United well-cited work (185 citations in the SCI States, but does not call for the end to 1964 to 1979) is dedicated to Harold nuclear power. lb These scientists ex- Urey in a preface filled with admiration, plain their position by noting safety respect, and affection. A new labora- questions, the need for a national plan tory at the Coral Gables. Florida, cam- to dispose of nuclear wastes, and a con- pus of the was cern that the worldwide spread of dedicated in 1974 by Cesare Emiliani to nuclear power could cause a spread of his former professor: “The Harold C. nuclear weapons. The 1975 petition Urey Laboratory for Isotopic Paleotem- stated that while it was no mistake to at- perature Research. ” tempt to use nuclear power for peaceful Citations have sometimes been called purposes, “it was a serious error in judg- “rewards” to authors for their additions ment to devote resources to nuclear to the world’s knowledge. In this sense, development to the virtual exclusion of citation itself is indeed a form of praise, other alternatives. ”17 Harold Urey’s work just during the peri- Another example of Urey’s social and od from 1961-1979 was cited over 3,000 political awareness is a moving state- times. And this does not include papers ment he made in the late 50s concerning on which he was listed as a second America’s future. His conclusion is even author. During that time, his most-cited more timely today: “... We will settle work, with 337 citations, was The down to understand our faults and Planets. 18 This is by no means a sur- shortcomings and do what needs to be prise. The field of cosmochemistry has done to correct the situation. But what expanded dramatically in the last two needs to be corrected? Our security decades under the influence, both di- system? Nonsense! Our support for rect and indirect, of the US space pro- science? I believe not in any immediate gram. Urey essentially defined this field way . .. . The real problem that faces the in The P/anets, and it is good to see that country is a long-term one. It is a prob- credit continues to be given where cred- lem of the proper education and inspira- it is due, i.e., to his fundamental state- tion of our youth.”~ (p. VII) ments. It is unfortunate that all intellectually “The thermodynamic properties of curious young people can’t come in isotopic substances,” published in the direct contact with a mind like that of Journal of the Chemical Society in 1947, Harold Urey’s. Certainly his students was cited 238 times from 1961-1979. would attest to the fact that he solved That alone qualifies it as a citation the “problem of proper education and classic. Similarly “The composition of inspiration” for them. Harold Urey has the stone meteorites and the origin of had many honors bestowed upon him, the meteorites, ” publisbed in 1953 (cm

336 authored by Harmon Craig) in probably illustrates the obliteration Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acts, phenomenon. This occurs with many received 191 citations. “The vibrations fundamental discovery or method of pentatomic tetrahedral molecules, ” papers that become part of the common written with C.A. Bradley and pub- wisdom of everyone working in the lished in Physical Review in 1931, is field. also a classic. Craig, Miller, and Wasser- While classics in the arts and humani- burg point out that even this early paper ties may continue to be cited for cen- made advances toward cosmochemis- turies, it is the inexorable fate of scien- try. They comment that “many papers tific works that they fade into history. have since been written on this prob- Since Harold Urey’s collective work lem, all using the formalism of Urey and continues to be cited quite heavily it will Bradley, and the results have not be a long time before his work is totally changed and their conclusion still obliterated. When future historiog- stands. “s (p. XVI) raphers write about science in the 20th Urey’s papers introducing and de- century, Urey will be one of the giants scribing hk Nobel prizewinning dis- on whose shoulders so many have covery were heavily cited in the three stood. Thk essay is a small token of my decades before the S(Y started. We enormous love and respect for Harold won’t know how much and where until Urey, It’s not only a privilege to pay we go back to complete the SCI for tribute to a personal friend; it is also a those years. However, “A hydrogen special pleasure to acknowledge a per- isotope of mass 2,” which appeared in son who, while juggling the demands of the Physical Review in 1932, received family, teaching, and research, suc- only about 32 citations between 1961 ceeded magnificently at all three while and 1979. While this is much more than revolutionizing 20th century science. the average paper will ever receive, it o~,,, ,,

REFERENCES

1, Harold Urey is 1973 Priestley medalist, Chem. Eng. News 5(X33):9. 1972, 2. GarJJald E. Personal communication. 31 July 1972. 3. Urey H C. Lifelike forms in meteorites. Science 137:623-8, 1%2. 4, Farber E. Nobef prize winners in chemisfry 1901-1961. New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1%3. 341 p. 5. Cr’cdg H, Mffter S L & Waaaerhurg G J, ert.i I$ofopic and cosmic chemistry. Amsterdam: North Holfand, 1%3. 553 p. 6, Um.y H C. The heat capacities and entropies of diatomic and polyatomic gases. J. Amer. Chem. Sot. 45:1445-55, 1923. 7. Rumk A & Urey H C. Atoms, nrolecu/es, and quanfa. New York: Dover, 1930.2 i. 8. Waaaarbrrrg G J. Telephone communication. 3 August 1979. 9. Urey H C. Personal communication. 3 July 1979, 10. ------Some thermodynamic properties of hydrogen and deuterium, [Nobel leciure]. Angew. Chem. 48:315-20, 1935. 11. H. R, 4566, 79th Cong., 1st Sesa., 91 Cong. Rec. 10320 ( 1945). 12. Epatefn S, Brrchsbmrm R, Lmwessstam H A & Urey H C. Carbonate water isotopic temperature scale. Bull. Geol. Sot. A mer, 62:417-26, 1951. 13. Urey H C, Lowenstam H A, Epstefn S & McKfrmey C. Measurements of paleotemperatures and temperatures of the Upper Cretaceus of England, Denmark, and the Southeastern United States, Bull. Geol. Sot. Amer. 62:399-416, 1951. 14. Sues.s H & Urey H C. Abundances of the elements. Rev. Mod. Phys. 28:53-74, 1956. 15. ------Abundances of the elements in planets and meteorites. Handbuch der Phys. 51 :2%323, 1958. 16. OTrmIe T. Scientists urge a-power slowdown, Wash. POSI 7 August 1975. p. A3. 17. Burrsham B. 2,3C0 scientists petition U.S. to cut construction of nuclear power plants. NY Times 7 August 1975, p. 4. 18. Urey H C. The planers; their origin and dewloprnen(. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952. 245p.

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