Lawrence Darken
September 18, 1909 - June 7, 1978
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Scientific Discipline: Applied Physical Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1961)
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Lawrence S. Darken was a pioneering figure in the application of physical chemistry within the metallurgical field. He collaborated with Robert W. Gurry to publish a series of classic works on thermodynamics. This collaboration led to the creation of the instrumental Darken-Gurry map, which identifies the solubility of solids, as well as other works related to the iron-oxygen system. Darken is perhaps best known for the Darken equations, which became instrumental in the study of diffusion phenomena by lifting the limitations of Fick’s law, which failed at sufficiently high gradients.
Darken graduated from Hamilton College in 1930 and received a PhD from Yale University in 1933. Between 1935 and 1971 he worked for the United States Steel Corporation, where he was appointed director of the Edgar C. Bain Laboratory for Fundamental Research in 1962. Following an early retirement from the steel industry, Darken assumed a position as a professor of earth and mineral sciences at the Pennsylvania State University until 1978.
