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American chemist
Nathaniel Howell Furman (1892–1965) was an American professor of
analytical chemistry who helped develop the electrochemical uranium separation process as a member of the
Manhattan Project .
[1]
Background and career
Furman was born in the
Lawrenceville section of
Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey in 1892. He attended
Lawrenceville School ,
[1] where he was a model student,
[2] graduating with a Master's Prize from his high school in 1909. He enrolled in
Princeton University , where he received
Phi Beta Kappa honors and graduated in 1913. He received an M.S. in 1915 and a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1917. Furman served in
World War I in the
Army
Chemical Warfare Service . He returned to Princeton in 1919 to become an assistant professor, gaining promotion and tenure in 1937,
[3] and finished his career in 1960 as the
Russell Wellman Moore professor of chemistry.
[1]
Manhattan Project
Furman helped develop an ether extraction process to extract
Uranium oxide , a precursor to the fissile material used in the first atom bombs as discussed in the
Smyth report .
[4] He served as a special consultant to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and was an advisor to the post-War
Office of Scientific Research and Development .
[5] An August 8, 1945, special to the
Princeton Bulletin revealed that multiple Princeton faculty, among them
Albert Einstein ,
John Archibald Wheeler ,
Henry DeWolf Smyth ,
Hugh Stott Taylor , and Furman, had all "disappeared to
Shangri-La " to work secretly on the bomb during wartime.
[6]
Books published
In 1933 Furman co-wrote Elementary Quantitative Analysis , one of the first textbooks in the field of analytical chemistry for undergraduates.
[7]
He co-wrote Analytical Chemistry of the Manhattan Project in 1950.
[8]
Personal life
A resident of
Princeton, New Jersey ,
[1] Furman owned a summer cottage in
Charlotte, Vermont , on
Lake Champlain and enjoyed sailboat racing and golf in his spare time. He had a son and a daughter—who became a chemist—with Hannah S. Hendrickson.
[4]
Honors
References
^
a
b
c
d
"Dr. N. Howell Furman, 73, Dies; Chemist Worked on Atom Bomb; Responsible for Analytical Separation of Uranium - At Princeton 41 Years" . The New York Times . August 3, 1965.
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved July 25, 2020 .
^
"High Honors for N. Howell Furman" . Trenton Evening Times . April 19, 1909.
^
"Professor Chinard Named to French Professorship" . The Daily Princetonian . April 12, 1937.
^
a
b "Nathaniel Howell Furman". Chemical & Engineering News . 26 (34): 2492. August 23, 1948.
doi :
10.1021/cen-v026n034.p2492 .
ISSN
0009-2347 .
^
"New Chemistry Prize Awarded to Furman" . The Daily Princetonian . April 23, 1948.
^
"Drs Taylor, Furman in Chemistry; Smyth in Physics, Led Projects" . The Princeton Bulletin . August 8, 1945.
^ Smith, G. Frederick (September 1, 1933).
"Elementary Quantitative Analysis (Willard, Hobart H.; Furman, N. Howell)" . Journal of Chemical Education . 10 (9): 581.
Bibcode :
1933JChEd..10..581S .
doi :
10.1021/ed010p581.1 .
ISSN
0021-9584 .
^
"Analytical chemistry of the Manhattan Project /" . lib.ugent.be . 1950. Retrieved July 25, 2020 .
^ Kolthoff, I. M. (June 1967). "N. Howell Furman: A biographical note". Journal of Chemical Education . 44 (6): 328.
Bibcode :
1967JChEd..44..328K .
doi :
10.1021/ed044p328 .
ISSN
0021-9584 .
^
a
b
"Professor Furman '13 Chosen Leader of Chemical Society" . The Daily Princetonian . December 7, 1949.
^ Kolthoff, I. M. (June 1, 1967). "N. Howell Furman: A biographical note". Journal of Chemical Education . 44 (6): 328.
Bibcode :
1967JChEd..44..328K .
doi :
10.1021/ed044p328 .
ISSN
0021-9584 .
^ "Nathaniel Howell Furman". Chemical & Engineering News Archive . 26 (34): 2492. August 23, 1948.
doi :
10.1021/cen-v026n034.p2492 .
ISSN
0009-2347 .
^
"Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Fellowship | Graduate School" . gradschool.princeton.edu . Retrieved July 25, 2020 .
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