William J. Hale was born January 5, 1876 in Ada, Ohio, to James Thomas and Emma Elizabeth (Ogle) Hale. James Thomas Hale was a Presbyterian minister and moved his family as assigned to various congregations throughout William's childhood.

William Hale attended the Miami University of Ohio, receiving A.B. and A.M. degrees in 1897 and was presented with an L.L.D. degree in 1937. He also attended Harvard University, receiving the degrees of A.B. in 1898, A.M. in 1899, and Ph.D. in 1902.

After completing his education Hale served as a Traveling Fellow in Chemistry, Technische Hochschule, Berlin, and University of Goettingen, 1902-1903. He taught for one term in 1903 at the University of Chicago. In 1904 he came to Michigan to teach chemistry at the University of Michigan. At U of M he served as instructor from 1904 to 1908; Assistant Professor from 1908-1915; and, Associate Professor from 1915-1919. There he also came into association with Dr. Herbert H. Dow. Hale and Dow developed a team of research and production scientists that formed the foundation of the quick growing Dow Chemical Co. It was also at U-M that he met Helen Dow, a student in his chemistry class. They married on February 7, 1917 and had a daughter, Ruth, on February 22, 1918. Shortly after Ruth's birth, Helen contracted the Spanish Flu and died October 16, 1918. William Hale never remarried.

After Helen's death, Hale took a position with Dow and moved Ruth, as well as his widowed mother living in Dayton, Ohio, to Midland, Michigan.

At Dow, Hale was Director of Organic Chemistry Research until 1934, serving as a consultant to the company thereafter. While director of Dow's organic chemical research laboratory, Hale played a large part in discovering processes to produce chemicals in vast quantities. Considered to be among his greatest such accomplishments were processes to increase production of indigo, chloracetic acid and phenyl ethyl alcohol. Hale and another Dow chemist, Dr. E. C. Britton, developed the chlorobenzene process for most efficient production of phenol. In addition, Hale founded and fathered the Dow Chemical Library.

Hale had numerous personal and professional interests outside of Dow Chemical. He was Chairman of Division Chemistry and Chemical Technology, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. from 1925-1927. He acted as consultant to the Chemical Warfare Service, from 1925-1929. He was a visiting Professor of Chemurgy at Connecticut College from 1936-1939. He was also named President of the National Agrol Co. in Washington D.C., 1939.

A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Hale belonged to numerous professional societies, including: the London Chemical Society; the American Chemical Society; Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture; Societe Suissede Chimie; Societie Chemique de France; Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft. He maintained lifetime association with Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Phi Lambda Upsilon. Socially he was a member of the Detroit Club, the Chemists Club (New York), the Cosmos Club (D.C.), and the Chevy Chase Club (Md.)

In 1939, Hale purchased from the Chemical Foundation a corporation that came to be named the National Agrol Co. The National Agrol Co. sought to discover means of producing agricultural alcohol, and other farm products, at costs far below any known method. After reorganizing the corporation in 1941 and 1946, the corporation controlled a plant in Lincoln, Nebraska to produce commercial chemurgic products. The corporation held over 40 patents and 40 patent applications, and produced products like chlorophyletts, a chlorophyll-based chewing gum.

Hale lectured on chemurgy and chemistry throughout his career, and was a prolific writer as well. A sampling of titles authored by Hale include: A Laboratory Outline of General Chemistry (w/ Alexander Smith), 1907; The Calculations of General Chemistry, 1909; Chemistry Triumphant, 1932; The Farm Chemurgic, 1934; Prosperity Beckons, 1936; Farmward March, 1939; and, Farmer Victorious, 1949.

In 1951 Hale was named President of the Verdurin Company of Detroit and Midland, and held that position until his death on August 8, 1955.

Hale was considered to be the Father of Chemurgy, having coined the term "chemurgy" out of the Greek expressions signifying "chemistry at work." According to Hale, "'Chemurgy' is a word I had need to coin to depict that field of chemistry initiated not by man but by Nature. It is best defined as the 'direction of nature's life agencies to the production of chemicals for industry.'" Hale also believed that the greatest of all chemurgic industries would be the ethyl alcohol industry.

Hale used the term "chemurgist" in the beginning of his 1934 text Farm Chemurgic, to describe the use and potential benefit from the use of organic materials - notably farm and agricultural products - for industrial applications. Chemurgy was not considered by many scientific professionals of the day to be a standard term for describing industrial chemistry from organic matter. By the late 1960s, "biochemical engineering" replaced "Chemurgy" as the label used to describe natural product chemistry with industrial applications.