Percival C. “Dobie” Keith was Vice President for Research and Engineering for the M.W. Kellogg Company.
Born in Tyler, Texas on December 24, 1900, Keith graduated from MIT in 1922 with a degree in chemical engineering. He rose quickly to a leadership role at the M.W. Kellogg Company, becoming Vice President for Research and Engineering in 1932.
In 1941, Keith was invited to join the planning board of the S-1 Committee, where he participated in Kellogg and Columbia University’s pilot project to ascertain the feasibility of gaseous diffusion as a technique for uranium isotope separation.
As the Manhattan Project began, Kellogg was given more responsibility for gaseous diffusion research, as well as more funding and resources. As leader of the Kellex Corporation, a newly created subsidiary of Kellogg that worked entirely on gaseous diffusion, Keith was instrumental in the design of a gaseous diffusion barrier and the completion of the K-25 Plant at Oak Ridge, TN.
He later founded and served as president of Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. Keith died on July 9, 1976 at the age of 75.