Harold Urey

Harold Clayton Urey Papers Background Harold Clayton Urey was a scientist of considerable scope whose discovery of deuterium helped him win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1934. Urey also made fundamental contributions to the production of the atomic bomb through his development of the isotope separation processes for the Manhattan Project. In the period following World War II, Urey played an active part in advocating nuclear arms control, in promoting space exploration and in the …

…of the Planetology Committee. He personally analyzed samples of moon rock obtained by the moon missions. Urey received numerous honors in addition to the Nobel Prize. He was awarded more than 20 honorary doctorates, over a dozen medals, and was a member or fellow of nearly 30 societies and academies. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson awarded him the National Medal of Science. Urey's bibliography of scientific publications exceeds 200 titles. Harold Urey died in his La Jolla home in 1981.