Matthew A. Hunter

Matthew Albert Hunter (1878-1961) was a metallurgist and inventor of the Hunter process for producing titanium metal.

Hunter was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1878 and received his early education in local public schools. He completed his Secondary education at Auckland Grammar School. He attended Auckland University College, where he earned his Bachelor's in 1900, and his Master's degree in 1902, and later studied at University College, London, earning a Doctor of Science degree, and at various other European universities. He met his future wife Mary Pond in Europe, as a fellow student, and married after traveling to America. He became employed at the research laboratories of General Electric, where he began his research into Titanium. Following the recession of 1908, he left GE and became a professor of Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Background Titanium was identified in 1791 by William Gregor but proved difficult to isolate. It was isolated to 95% purity by Lars Nilson and Otto Pettersson, and later isolated to 98% purity by Henri Moissan using an electric furnace. In 1910, Hunter produced 99.9% pure titanium in a method that became known as the Hunter Process. The Hunter process is very inefficient, and is not able to produce large amounts of titanium, so production of titanium remained mainly confined to the laboratory until the more efficient Kroll process was developed in the 1940s. The Hunter process remains of use only in the most demanding applications where high purity is needed.

Hunter served for five years as head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and helped found the Department of Metallurgical Engineering.