James R. Arnold | |
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| Born | (1923-05-05)May 5, 1923 |
| Died | January 6, 2012(2012-01-06) (aged 88) La Jolla,California, United States |
| Other names | Jim Arnold |
| Alma mater | Ph.D.,Princeton University, 1946 |
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| Spouse | Louise C. Arnold |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cosmochemistry |
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James Richard Arnold (May 5, 1923 – January 6, 2012) was theHarold C. Urey Professor of Chemistry (emeritus), and a noted pioneer in the field of planetary and spacechemistry at theUniversity of California at San Diego (UCSD), where an endowed lectureship has been established in his name.
Arnold received his education atPrinceton University, where he enrolled as an undergraduate at age 16. He earned his doctorate there in 1946 at 23, for work on theManhattan Project (his thesis is still classified).[1] Concerns about nuclear fallout and war prompted him to be an early member of theUnion of Concerned Scientists[2] and aWorld Federalist, through which he met his wife Louise in 1950.[1]
As apostdoctoral researcher underWillard Libby at theUniversity of Chicago, Arnold helped develop the techniques forCarbon-14 dating, working with archeological samples from Egypt and other samples with known ages. For this work, Libby was awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960.[3]
After his postdoc, Arnold returned to Princeton as a faculty member, working on usingcosmic rays to measure the age of rocks.,[2] and where he began his work on extraterrestrial material, including cosmic rays. It was at Princeton that Masatake (Masa) Honda andDevendra Lal first joined his work, an association amongst them that would last the rest of their lives.[1]
In 1957,Roger Revelle was working to startUCSD near the campus ofScripps Institution of Oceanography. He recruited Arnold and a few others to be the founding faculty. The recruitment ofHarold C. Urey convinced Arnold to accept and move west in 1958, leaving Princeton to become the founding chair of the UCSD Department of Chemistry and help found the campus and recruit faculty.[1][4][5] He was aNASA consultant for many years, helping set scientific research priorities,[2] starting just three months after NASA was founded.[6] He played a major role in establishing and reforming theLunar Receiving Laboratory for handling lunar samples returned during theApollo program,[7][8] including being one of the "Four Horsemen", along withBob Walker,Paul Werner Gast, andGerry Wasserburg.[6][9]
Arnold performed his own research on lunar rocks and cosmic rays.[2] Under the name SHRELLDALFF (from the initials of its members), his team produced important early papers, and he continued long afterwards with lunar studies, including measurements of the bombardment of the lunar surface by cosmic rays, helping to plot the energy output of the Sun over millions of years.[1] For his work he was awarded theNASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1970.[10]
At the request of then-GovernorJerry Brown, he founded the University of California's California Space Institute (CalSpace) in 1979, and was its first director for ten years,[1][11]
Asteroid 2143, "Jimarnold", was named for Arnold by its discoverers,E. F. Helin andGene Shoemaker, in 1980 for his work on computer models of meteorite travel.[2]
Arnold was a member of the U.S.National Academy of Sciences, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Foreign Fellow of theIndian National Science Academy.
Arnold was also known for wild shirts, a relief from the formal dress required at Princeton.[1]He was married to Louise Arnold for 60 years, and they had three sons, Bob, Ted, andKen.[12]
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