Humboldt W. Leverenz was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1909. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in chemistry in 1930 before spending a year as an Exchange Fellow of the Institute of International Education at the University of Munster. Leverenz began working for RCA at Camden in 1931 as a chemico-physicist and member of RCA’s Electronic Research Group that was developing an all-electronic television system. From 1938 to 1942 Leverenz continued his research at RCA’s electron tube development center in Harrison, New Jersey where he also designed the Lancaster, Pennsylvania phosphor plant. In 1942 Leverenz was put in charge of research on electronically active solids at RCA Laboratories in Princeton and in 1944 he studied the development, manufacture, and tactical use of radar indicators in England as a representative of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development.

In 1954 Leverenz was made Director of the Physical and Chemical Research Laboratory and then Assistant Director of Research in 1957. From 1959 to 1961 Leverenz was the Director of Research and was later appointed Associate Director of RCA Laboratories. In 1966 Leverenz was appointed Staff Vice President, Research and Business Evaluation and in August of 1968 was appointed Staff Vice President and Chairman, Educational Aid Committee. Leverenz retired from RCA Laboratories in August of 1974 after 43 years of working for the company.

Leverenz holds over sixty patents and published numerous reports, articles, and papers on luminescent materials. In 1940 Leverenz received the Modern Pioneer Award of the National Association of Manufacturers and in 1954 won the Franklin Institute Brown Medal prize for his contributions to the development of the fluorescent lamp. He died in 2003.