Harold Urey: From Farm Boy to Nobel Laureate

Featured Speaker: John Urey, Ph.D.

Harold Urey was an orphan who grew up on a 60-
acre farm in Indiana. His family were members of the
Church of the Brethren. This lecture by his son John,
a new Osher member, will discuss how he became a
man who spoke to Kings and Queens and helped to
found a great public university as the first hire at
UC San Diego. Of course it helped that he won a
Nobel Prize for the discovery of deuterium, a key
component of nuclear weapons. Join us to learn
more about this famous American, to discuss his life,
his family, his scientific work and his politics.

Presenter Biography

Urey is Harold Urey’s fourth
child and only son, who was born five years
after the Nobel Prize and who quickly became
“Prince” John. He grew up in Chicago, got his
B.A. in Chemistry at Swarthmore and Ph.D. in
Biochemistry from Caltech. He tried his hand at
college teaching for 10 years and then switched to
optometry. He moved to San Diego in 1983 and
stopped working when COVID made standing eye
to eye with patients risky.

Coordinator: Mavis Porter