After earning his PhD at the California Institute of Technology, Paul Emmett began his work on catalysis. He became chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at The Johns Hopkins University in 1937. In 1943, he left the university to join the staff of the Manhattan Project, where he was instrumental in developing a technique for the separation of Uranium-235 from U-238.
Following a residency at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Emmett returned to Johns Hopkins in 1955 as the W.R. Grace Professor in the Chemistry Department. He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His contributions include the B.E.T. formula for calculating the surface area of a material from the amount of gas it adsorbs, and his work with ammonia and iron nitride.
Emmett retired from Johns Hopkins in 1971, returning to ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ as research professor in the Chemistry Department at Portland State University. He passed away in 1985.
Degrees
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1922