Cyril Stanley Smith | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 4 October 1903 Birmingham, England |
| Died | 25 August 1992 (aged 88) Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | metallurgy production of fissionable metals |
| Awards | Medal for Merit (1946) Francis J. Clamer Medal (1952) Andrew Gemant Award (1991) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | American Brass Company Los Alamos Laboratory University of Chicago Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Doctoral students | William W. Mullins |
Cyril Stanley Smith (4 October 1903 – 25 August 1992) was a British metallurgist and historian of science. He is most famous for his work on the Manhattan Project where he was responsible for the production of fissionable metals. A graduate of the University of Birmingham and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Smith worked for many years as a research metallurgist at the American Brass Company. During World War II he worked in the Chemical-Metallurgical Division of the Los Alamos Laboratory, where he purified, cast and shaped uranium-235 and plutonium, a metal hitherto available only in microgram amounts, and whose properties were largely unknown. After the war he served on the Atomic Energy Commission's influential General Advisory Committee, and the President's Science Advisory Committee.
Smith founded the Institute for the Study of Metals at the University of Chicago, the first interdisciplinary academic organization devoted to the study of metals in the United States. He studied the details of faults and grain boundaries in metals, and developed theoretical models of them. In 1961, he moved to MIT as an Institute Professor with appointments in both the Departments of Humanities and Metallurgy. He applied the techniques of metallurgy to the study of the production methods used to create artefacts such as samurai swords.