Scientist. He graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and earned a doctorate in chemistry at Columbia University in 1925. As a chemistry teacher and researcher at Columbia, he was recruited in 1941, to be the director of the Manhattan Division of the Manhattan Project where he helped develop the first atomic bomb. He with his team of scientists developed the procedure needed to separate the uranium isotopes to detonate the bomb. When he learned that the bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, he felt responsible. In 1946, he left Columbia to be a research manager for Union Carbide Corporation in the Coal Hydrogenation Plant and later was director of research. His ways to remove toxic metals from water and soil is considered an environmental science achievement. After retiring from Union Carbide, he taught at Dickinson College and at Messiah College Pennsylvania. At age 102, he was named "America's Oldest Worker" by Experience Works, a nonprofit provider of training and employment services for older workers. He retired from research in 2004, at age 104 and in early 2005, his memoir, "Listening to Nature: My Century in Science," was published. Cause of death, stroke at age 105.
Scientist. He graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and earned a doctorate in chemistry at Columbia University in 1925. As a chemistry teacher and researcher at Columbia, he was recruited in 1941, to be the director of the Manhattan Division of the Manhattan Project where he helped develop the first atomic bomb. He with his team of scientists developed the procedure needed to separate the uranium isotopes to detonate the bomb. When he learned that the bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, he felt responsible. In 1946, he left Columbia to be a research manager for Union Carbide Corporation in the Coal Hydrogenation Plant and later was director of research. His ways to remove toxic metals from water and soil is considered an environmental science achievement. After retiring from Union Carbide, he taught at Dickinson College and at Messiah College Pennsylvania. At age 102, he was named "America's Oldest Worker" by Experience Works, a nonprofit provider of training and employment services for older workers. He retired from research in 2004, at age 104 and in early 2005, his memoir, "Listening to Nature: My Century in Science," was published. Cause of death, stroke at age 105.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
Family Members
Children
Advertisement
