Harvey C. Rentschler was an American inventor and director of research at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Lamp Plant in Bloomfield, New Jersey. After receiving his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, Rentschler taught physics at the University of Missouri before joining Westinghouse.
Working with deputy research director John W. Marden, Rentschler developed a reliable process for producing pure uranium metal. In 1942, Westinghouse was contracted by the University of Chicago Met Lab to produce uranium. The company successfully provided more than three tons of uranium for Chicago Pile-1, and supplied approximately 69 tons of uranium for the Manhattan Project.
Rentschler died at age 68 on March 23, 1949, two years after his retirement from Westinghouse. He received more than 100 patents for his inventions, including the sterilamp, a bacteria-killing lamp.