Charles Allen Thomas

Charles Allen Thomas (born February 15, 1900 in Scott County , Kentucky , † March 29, 1982 ) was an American chemist .

Life

Thomas studied chemistry at Transylvania College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in 1924. From 1923 to 1932 he worked in research at General Motors , where he was involved in the development of lead additives in gasoline. He also worked for Thomas & Hochwalt Laboratories in Dayton (Ohio) from 1926 to 1936 , at Dayton Synthetic Chemicals (of which he was Vice President from 1930 to 1934) and at Carbosolve Corporation (1931 to 1936). In 1936, Monsanto acquired Thomas & Hochwalt Laboratories and Thomas stayed with Monsanto for the remainder of his career. From 1951 to 1960 he was President there and from 1960 to 1965 Chairman of the Board of Directors. In 1970 he retired.

From 1943 to 1945 he coordinated plutonium production and chemical processing in the Manhattan Project . He was also significantly involved in the production of other materials related to the atomic bomb in pure form, such as polonium . In 1951 he was one of eleven scientists President Harry S. Truman appointed as a defense advisor, and in 1953 he became a member of the National Security Council .

Honors

In 1947 he received the IRI Medal . He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences , the National Academy of Engineering , since 1950 the American Philosophical Society and since 1967 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1946 he received the US President's Medal for Merit , in 1948 the gold medal of the American Chemical Society, in 1953 the Perkin Medal , in 1955 the Priestley Medal and in 1962 the Belgian Leopold Order.

Web links

• Biography at NAS, pdf

Individual evidence

1. ^ Member History: Charles Allen Thomas. American Philosophical Society, accessed February 9, 2019 . 
2. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Book of Members ( PDF ). Retrieved April 11, 2016