Paul Hugh Emmett (September 22, 1900 – April 22, 1985) was an American chemist best known for his pioneering work in the field of catalysis and for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He spearheaded the research to separate isotopes of uranium and to develop a corrosive uranium gas. Emmett also made significant contributions to BET Theory which explains the relationship between surface area and gas adsorption. He served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University for 23 years throughout his scientific career. Early life Paul Hugh Emmett was born on September 22, 1900, in Portland, Oregon to John Hugh Emmett (1864-1943) and Lavina Hutchins (1870-1941). Emmett's father was a railroad engineer. For a year in his early childhood, Emmett's family lived in a rail car while his mother worked as a cook for the rail company. Emmett attended Washington High School where he excelled in language and mathematics classes. Among his acquaintances in high school was Linus Pauling, future two-time Nobel Prize winner. Emmett had a fear of public speaking, so he enrolled in the debate team in both high school and college to gain proficiency. His first high school science classes, physics and chemistry, were taken during his senior year of high school. Emmett's senior year chemistry teacher, William Green, is said to have inspired him to pursue a career in chemistry. Later in life, Emmett expressed that perhaps high schools are "simply not flexible enough for the people in the genius class." In 1918, Emmett began his studies in chemical engineering at Oregon State University. He was a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. After completing his bachelor's degree in 1922, Emmett pursued his PhD in physical chemistry at the California Institute of Technology under Arthur F. Benton. At the time, the California Institute of Technology was paying PhD students nearly double what other programs were offering, making the university an enticing choice for Emmett. Career In 1925, Emmett accepted a teaching position at Oregon State University, but only remained for a year. In 1926, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work at the US Department of Agriculture's Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory. For over a decade, Emmett led experiments attempting to incorporate catalysis into the synthesis of ammonia. He also worked on implementing catalysis in projects ranging form the decomposition of ammonia to water-gas conversion. Emmett also served as a lecturer at