James R. Arnold

James Richard Arnold (May 5, 1923 – January 6, 2012) was the Harold C. Urey Professor of Chemistry (emeritus), and a noted pioneer in the field of planetary and space chemistry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where an endowed lectureship has been established in his name.

Early life and education Arnold received his education at Princeton University, where he enrolled as an undergraduate at age 16. He earned his doctorate there in 1946 at 23, for work on the Manhattan Project (his thesis is still classified). and a World Federalist, through which he met his wife Louise in 1950.

Career After his postdoc, Arnold returned to Princeton as a faculty member, working on using cosmic rays to measure the age of rocks., He was a NASA consultant for many years, helping set scientific research priorities, He played a major role in establishing and reforming the Lunar Receiving Laboratory for handling lunar samples returned during the Apollo program, including being one of the "Four Horsemen", along with Bob Walker, Paul Werner Gast, and Gerry Wasserburg.

Arnold performed his own research on lunar rocks and cosmic rays.

At the request of then-Governor Jerry Brown, he founded the University of California's California Space Institute (CalSpace) in 1979, and was its first director for ten years,

Asteroid 2143, "Jimarnold", was named for Arnold by its discoverers, E. F. Helin and Gene Shoemaker, in 1980 for his work on computer models of meteorite travel. He was married to Louise Arnold for 60 years, and they had three sons, Bob, Ted, and Ken.