The Life and Science of Harold C. Urey
248 pages
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12 halftones
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6 x 9
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© 2020
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction The Making and Remaking of an American Chemist
One From Farm Boy to Wartime Chemist
Two From Industrial Chemistry to Copenhagen
Three From Novice in Europe to Expert in America
Four From Nobel Laureate to Manhattan Project Burnout
Five A Separation Man No More
Six A Return to Science
Seven To Hell with the Moon!
Epilogue A Life in Science
Acknowledgments
Notes
List of Archives
List of Oral History Interviews
Bibliography
Index
One From Farm Boy to Wartime Chemist
Two From Industrial Chemistry to Copenhagen
Three From Novice in Europe to Expert in America
Four From Nobel Laureate to Manhattan Project Burnout
Five A Separation Man No More
Six A Return to Science
Seven To Hell with the Moon!
Epilogue A Life in Science
Acknowledgments
Notes
List of Archives
List of Oral History Interviews
Bibliography
Index
Review Quotes
Nature
"Absorbing . . . [Shindell] uses the researcher’s life to show how a conscientious chemist navigated the cold war. . . . This fine biography wonderfully shows how Urey’s scientific contributions led chemistry in new directions, including to the Moon — and, in depicting the life of a leading scientist, Shindell probes the complex interplay of faith, values and politics in the United States."
CHOICE
"The life of this famous Nobel laureate (prize awarded in 1934) is a study in contrasts and conflicts. . . . This expert biography reveals in detail the versatility and evolving interests of a leading scientist who never received full credit for many of his accomplishments. A true tragic hero. . . . Highly Recommended. All readers."
Endeavour
"An elegantly written and well researched biography. . . . Shindell is not solely interested in describing Urey’s impressive scientific achievements but also asks 'but who was he?'. Exploring this question is where Shindell’s biography excels. . . . Supported by comprehensive notes including a fascinating archive of oral histories, Shindell’s highly readable account captures the religious, scientific and political conflicts affecting this major American scientist during some of the most tumultuous periods of the last century."
Leonard David | Inside Outer Space
"This impressive biography is a well-researched and enjoyable read—a wonderful account of Harold Urey’s pioneering work. . . . The author offers an intriguing look at Urey’s scientific contributions, but also insight into the scientist’s struggles with faith and tangles with political forces in America. . . . For all you space-based readers, you’ll find a marvelous account of Urey’s cosmic encounter coming to grips with the formation and evolution of the solar system. . . . A thoroughly absorbing story of the scientist’s move into planetary science and his early modeling of the Moon and solar system development. . . . A thumbs-up tome."
David Grinspoon, author of Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
"One cannot understand the origins of nuclear power and weaponry, of planetary exploration, or of our modern ideas about earth history and climate change without knowing the contributions of Harold Urey. Shindell’s meticulously researched and riveting account of Urey’s life and work traces the intellectual, political, and spiritual struggles of a man whose career binds together many of the major scientific and political events of the twentieth century."
Michael D. Gordin, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University
"Harold Urey was simultaneously a towering figure in American science yet never quite fit into the categories imposed on him. Shindell vibrantly revives Urey’s story of science, politics, religion, and humanity across the American century."
Matthew Stanley, author of Einstein’s War: How Relativity Triumphed amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I
"This is an elegantly written and smartly researched biography of a major figure whose contributions to twentieth-century science have been inexplicably understudied. As with the best of this sort of biographical exploration, Shindell here crafts a rich historical narrative in which the individual subject provides an opportunity to investigate and understand large-scale social and cultural developments in a fine-grained way. The book is a serious contribution to the field, as well as paradigmatic of how the history of chemistry can appeal to a wide audience."
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