A Tribute to Harold Urey Number49 December 3,1979 I remember how I felt when I first saw paper on “Lifelike forms in meteorites,” Harold Urey’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 Priestley Medal, 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. chemistry. 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 Joshua Lederberg fiist introduced me zoology from the University of Montana 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 Nobel Prize needed moral support. I have also ap- Committee: “When the United States 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 California 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 deuterium 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 hydrogen, 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 Copenhagen. 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 neutron; 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 isotope Urey became a research associate in deuterium, from the Greek word mean- chemistry at Johns Hopkins University 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 heavy water. 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 neutrons, 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 isotopes 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 uranium 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 Geology and Planetary Science in Pasadena. Also while at Chicago, Urey publish- ed numerous papers on the abundances of the elements in the solar system. He and research chemist Hans Suess 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 cosmochemistry misleading as to the focus of Urey’s (sometimes referred to as “planetary work during his time at the University of geochemistry”) 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 La Jolla in 1958. Urey’s work has made these students, Harmon Craig, Stanley the chemistry department there a lead- Miller, and G.