George Washington Morey (9 January 1888,

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– 3 October 1965,

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) was an American geochemist, physical chemist, mineralogist, and petrologist, known for the "Morey bomb" used in hydrothermal research.

Biography

Morey studied chemistry at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

with a bachelor's degree in 1909 and was a member of the Geophysical Laboratory of

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from 1912 until his retirement in 1953. He was Acting Director of the Laboratory from 1952 to 1953 before

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replaced him.Biography at the Carnegie Institution
/ref> He focused on experimental investigations of phase equilibria and thermodynamics of silicate melts with volatile components, such as water and carbon dioxide. In both WW I and WW II, Morey, as an expert on glass, was involved in the Laboratory's optical glassmaking projects for military equipment, such as rangefinders and gunsights. Morey received in 1926 the Hillebrand Prize by the Chemical Society of Washington, in 1948 the first

Arthur L. Day Medal The Arthur L. Day Medal is a prize awarded by the Geological Society of America, established in 1948 by Arthur Louis Day for "outstanding distinction in contributing to geologic knowledge through the application of physics and chemistry to the so ...

, and in 1959 the

Howard N. Potts Medal The Howard N. Potts Medal was one of The Franklin Institute Awards for science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named for Howard N. Potts. The first Howard N. Potts Medal was awarded in ...

(for high

refractive index In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or ...

, low

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optical glass). He was elected a Fellow of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

, the British Society of Glass Technology, and the

American Ceramic Society The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a non-profit professional organization for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. It is located in W ...

, which awards a George W. Morey Award for glass technology.

Selected publications

* with Clarence Norman Fenner: The ternary system H₂O-K₂SiO₃-SiO₂, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 40, 1917, pp. 49–59 * A comparison of the heating-curve and quenching methods of melting point determinations, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Volume 13, 1923, pp. 326–329 * with Norman L. Bowen: The melting relations of soda-lime-silica glasses, Transactions of the Society of Glass Technology, Vol. 9, 1925, pp. 226–264 * The Composition of Glass, The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 42, 1936, pp. 541–554
The Properties of Glass
American Chemical Monograph Series, Reinhold, New York, 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morey, George W American mineralogists American geochemists Fellows of the Geological Society of America Howard N. Potts Medal recipients 1888 births 1965 deaths