William H. Peirce

William H. Peirce (died 1944) was an American civil engineer and metallurgist, who pioneered copper production in the early 20th century.

Among his achievements was the Peirce-Smith converter [fr], invented with Elias Anton Cappelen Smith.

Described as "one of the foremost metallurgists of his time", Peirce became the vice president, director and a member of the Executive Committee of Revere from its incorporation in 1928 until his resignation in 1933.

[2] By developing a basic refractory material adapted to the matte refining process (in magnesia bricks), Peirce and his engineer Smith found a way to drastically increase the lifetime of the lining.

It has been stated that, in some cases, the process allowing an increase from 10 to 2500 tons of copper produced without relining the converters.