[2] He attended Pomona College, graduating in 1938, and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society.

[4][5] After receiving his PhD in 1942, Smith began teaching in the Chemistry Department at the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla.

[6][7] While teaching at Missouri, Smith became a mentor to a brilliant 15-year old high student and future National Medal of Science winner named M. Frederick Hawthorne who would eventually follow him to Pomona.

[1] During World War II, Smith worked on the Manhattan Project at the Hanford Site in Richland, Washington.

[10] During the 1958–1959 academic year, he did another fellowship in England sponsored by the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund.