Charles Allen Thomas

Charles Allen Thomas (* February 15, 1900 in Scott County, Kentucky; † 29 March 1982) was an American chemist.

Thomas studied chemistry at Transylvania College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in 1924. From 1923 to 1932 he worked in research at General Motors, where he was involved in the development of lead additives in gasoline. He also worked from 1926 to 1936 for Thomas & High Walt Laboratories in Dayton (Ohio ) in Dayton Synthetic Chemicals ( where he was Vice President from 1930 to 1934 ) and at the Carbosolve Corporation ( 1931-1936 ). 1936 Monsanto took over the Thomas & High Walt Laboratories, and Thomas remained for the rest of his career at Monsanto. From 1951 to 1960 he was president there from 1960 to 1965 and Chairman of the Board. In 1970 he went into retirement.

From 1943 to 1945 he coordinated the plutonium production and chemical processing in the Manhattan Project. Also in the production of the atomic bomb in other related materials in pure form as polonium he was much more involved. In 1951 he was one of eleven scientists that began President Harry S. Truman as a defense adviser, and in 1953 he became a member of the National Security Council.

In 1947, he received the Medal IRI. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1946, he received the Medal for Merit by the U.S. President, 1948, the Gold Medal of the American Chemical Society, 1953, the Perkin Medal, 1955, the Priestley Medal and 1962 the Belgian Leopold Order.