Lawrence Stamper Darken (18 Sept. 1909, Brooklyn NY – 7 June 1978, State College PA) was a physical chemist and metallurgist, known for his two equations describing solid-state diffusion in binary solutions. He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

and attained his doctoral degree in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1933,Dr. Lawrence S. Darken, 68, Ex.Professor of Mineral Science
New York Times, 12 June 1978 followed by two postdoctoral years. From 1935 to 1971 Darken was employed at

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

Corporation Research Laboratory where he was director of the Edgar C. Bain Laboratory for Fundamental Research. After his retirement from U.S. Steel in 1971, he was appointed professor of mineral science at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. In addition to his two equations on diffusion, Dr. Darken made contributions to the field with respect to chemical rate phenomena in liquid steel and slags, thermodynamics of metallic solutions, and phase equilibria in various ternary systems. He also wrote the textbook ''Physical chemistry of metals'' with R. W. Gurry. In 1968 he received the R. W. Hunt Outstanding Paper Award from the

Association for Iron and Steel Technology The Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) is a non-profit professional organization focused on promoting the international iron and steel industry through networking and education. The AIST has over 17,500 members in over 70 countries, ...

(AIST) for his papers ''Thermodynamics of Binary Metallic Solutions'' and ''Thermodynamics of Ternary Metallic Solutions''.Hunt-Kelly Outstanding Paper Award Recipients. Section Hunt Recipients (prior to 2004)
AIST Association for Iron and Steel Technology He was also awarded a Gold Medal from the

American Society for Metals ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is an association of materials-centric engineers and scientists. ASM provides several information resources, including technical books, various digital databases, and ASM Han ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darken, Lawrence Stamper American physical chemists American metallurgists 1909 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American chemists

See also

References