University of Utah engineering alum, Lawrence Thatcher, who also is chief executive of Salt Lake City-based chemical company, Thatcher Group Inc., was honored with this year’s Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology. He is one of 12 recipients of the honor, which was announced last month, and one of two from the College. Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Cynthia Furse was also a recipient. Thatcher graduated from the U in 1945 with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering. Click below to read more about this year’s winners and a biography of Thatcher.
Lawrence Thatcher was trained in chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Utah, and in 1967, he founded Thatcher Company. A subscriber to hard work, Lawrence built the company over the years to the highly successful business that it is today. His early achievement was in re-engineering aluminum sulfate in a more economical way for use in the water purification, fabric dyeing, paper manufacturing and cosmetics.