Kinzel was born in
New York City. He received his A.B. in mathematics from
Columbia University (1919), B.S. in engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1921), and D. Met. Ing. and Sc.D. from the
University of Nancy, France (1922, 1933). His employment started in 1919 at the
General Electric Laboratories in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He joined
Union Carbide Research Laboratories in 1926 as a research metallurgist, where he subsequently served as chief metallurgist starting in 1931, vice-president (1945), and president (1948). He subsequently served as director of research for the Union Carbide Corporation (starting 1954), and vice-president of research (1955). In later years he was president and chief executive officer the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies. During
World War II he held key advisory posts for ordnance, and led the metals branch of the
Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee in Europe. After the war, he served on the
Defense Science Board and the
Naval Research Advisory Committee, and as consultant to the
Los Alamos,
Oak Ridge,
Argonne, and
Brookhaven National Laboratories, and the
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Kinzel was active in professional organizations, notably as the president of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (1958) and chairman of the Division of Engineering and Industrial Research of the
National Research Council (1960). He was a founding member of the
National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the
National Academy of Sciences, the
American Philosophical Society, and the
MIT Corporation. He was a trustee of the
California Institute of Technology, the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a member of the board of
System Development Corporation,
Beckman Instrument Company, etc. He was also the recipient of many distinguished service awards such as the illustrious
IRI Medal from the
Industrial Research Institute. == References ==