John Dudley Corbett (March 23, 1926 – September 2, 2013) was an American chemist who specialized in inorganic solid-state chemistry.
At Iowa State and Ames Lab, Corbett lead a research group that focused on the synthesis and characterization of two broad classes of materials, notably Zintl phases[1] and condensed transition metal halide clusters.
[2][3][4] Both classes of materials are important for their uses, for instance thermoelectrics, and for the theoretical advances they made possible by working to understand their complex bonding and electronic properties.
[5][6] After graduating from Yakima High School, serving in the United States Navy until the end of World War II, and attending the North Dakota Teachers College, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Washington, Corbett remained at Washington to complete his Ph.D. in 1952.
[7][8] He joined the chemistry faculty of Iowa State University and the scientific staff of Ames Laboratory in 1953.