Robert H. Wentorf Jr. (May 28, 1926, in West Bend, Wis. – April 3, 1997, in Easton, N.Y.) was a staff scientist at

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

Corporate Research and Development Laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y. and a professor of

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Wentorf was a chemical engineer and physical chemist who specialized in the synthesis of

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

and other superhard materials under conditions of high temperature and pressure. He is best known as the inventor of

cubic boron nitride Boron nitride is a thermally and chemically resistant refractory compound of boron and nitrogen with the chemical formula BN. It exists in various crystalline forms that are isoelectronic to a similarly structured carbon lattice. The hexagonal ...

(trade name, '' Borazon''), the second-hardest material known. Borazon is used industrially as a substitute for diamond where chemical reactivity or high temperature is a problem in grinding or cutting. He also worked on diamond synthesizing projects. He contributed to the chemical understanding of the reactions involved in synthesis of diamond, as well as to the design of necessary apparatus and the transition to production level. He also invented a process for growing single large diamond crystals in a thermal gradient. Wentorf received many honors for his work, including the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

's Ipatieff Prize in 1965, the

American Society for Metals ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is an association of materials-centric engineers and scientists. ASM provides several information resources, including technical books, various digital databases, and ASM Han ...

' Engineering Materials Achievement Award in 1973, Eastern New York Patent Law Association's Inventor of the Year Award in 1975 (with Bill Rocco), the American Physical Society's

International Prize for New Materials The James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1975, but was only given that name following its endowment by IBM in 1999. Prior to that it was known as the Internation ...

in 1977 (with his colleagues, Francis P. Bundy, H. Tracy Hall, and Herbert M. Strong, in the high pressure team), the

Industrial Research Institute Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) is a division of the National Association of Manufacturers, a nonprofit association based in Washington, D. C., United States. IRI was founded as a private non-profit in 1938 and merged with the NAM in 2022. ...

's Achievement Award in 1977, and three IR-100 awards. In 1986, he also received the Man-of-the-Year Award of the Abrasive Engineering Society for contributions to abrasives and grinding technology; he was specifically cited for his invention and development of Borazon. His description of scientific research is often quoted:

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External links

Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wentorf Jr., Robert H. 1926 births 1997 deaths American chemical engineers General Electric people People from West Bend, Wisconsin American physical chemists Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty People from Easton, New York Engineers from New York (state) 20th-century American engineers Scientists from New York (state) 20th-century American chemists