This biography of the Nobel Prize winning chemist Harold C. Urey (1893-1981) follows the famous scientist through his orthodox religious upbringing as a member of the German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) church, his education at the University of Montana and the University of California, Berkeley, his wartime work in the chemical industry during World War I, his postgraduate work at Niels Bohr's Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, his scientific work on deuterium that won him the Nobel Prize, his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, his turn to isotope geochemistry, and his contributio ... More

This biography of the Nobel Prize winning chemist Harold C. Urey (1893-1981) follows the famous scientist through his orthodox religious upbringing as a member of the German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) church, his education at the University of Montana and the University of California, Berkeley, his wartime work in the chemical industry during World War I, his postgraduate work at Niels Bohr's Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, his scientific work on deuterium that won him the Nobel Prize, his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, his turn to isotope geochemistry, and his contributions to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's lunar science program and Project Apollo. The book also traces Urey's professional career at Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, San Diego. The book examines Urey's family background, his religious life and his views on religion, science, and society, and relates these to his post-WWII research program. It also examines his efforts to use his scientific authority and fame to intervene in political, social, and scientific matters during the Cold War. This biography uses one scientific life to discern broader changes in the social and intellectual landscape of twentieth-century America.