Harold Gene Richter (March 5, 1925 - July 19, 2001) was an American chemist noted for his development of new analytical techniques for determination of water and air quality.
He was a project officer for the Environmental Protection Agency, specializing in techniques for monitoring water and air quality.
At Nuclear Science and Engineering Corporation, he "developed new methods of radiochemical analysis and of low-level radioactivity techniques.
"[9] In 1959[2] Richter moved to the Isotope Development Laboratory of the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in Durham, North Carolina, which was founded in 1958.
Some of his work at RTI was carried out under contract to the Division of Isotopes Development of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
[14] Early in the 20th century, Czech chemist Bohuslav Brauner, and later English physicist Henry Mosely, predicted the existence of an element with atomic weight 61, situated between neodymium and samarium on the periodic table.
[15] Working in 1945, Charles D. Coryell, Lawrence E. Glendenin and Jacob A. Marinsky carried out experiments on isolation of the missing element.
They obtained element 61 by two means, including as a nuclear fission product of uranium and the neutron bombardment of neodymium, all conducted in graphite reactors.
[15] Richter is not mentioned in contemporary sources that discuss the 1945 work on promethium conducted by Coryell, Marinsky, and Glendenin at Clinton Laboratories.
[16][17] According to Richter's 1966 curriculum vitae (published in a government report), his connection to MIT dated to 1948, after the discovery was made.