Scientists from
Cornell University played a major role in developing the technology that resulted in the first atomic bombs used in World War II. In turn, Cornell Physics professor Hans Bethe used the project as an opportunity to recruit young scientists to join the Cornell faculty after the war.[1] The following people worked on the
Manhattan Project primarily in
Los Alamos, New Mexico during
World War II and either studied or taught at
Cornell University before or after the War:
Robert Fox Bacher – headed the experimental physics division, Cornell Physics professor from 1935 until the War
Manson Benedict – developed the gaseous diffusion method for separating the isotopes of uranium and supervised the engineering and process development of the K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where fissionable material for the atomic bomb was produced
Gertrude Blanch – oversaw calculations for the Manhattan Project
Oswald C. Brewster – Cornell class of 1918, project engineer who wrote to senior government officials warning about the potential of atomic bombs ending civilization.[2]
Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz – worked at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory; doctorate in theoretical physics from Cornell University, where he was the first graduate student of Richard Feynman.
Boyce McDaniel – later became director of Cornell's Laboratory of Nuclear Studies
William T. Miller – developed the chlorofluorocarbon polymer used in the first gaseous diffusion plant for the separation of uranium isotopes, Cornell chemistry faculty, 1936 – 1977[8]
Bruno Rossi – co-director of the Detector Group, Cornell physics faculty 1942-1946
Harvey L. Slatin – physicist and inventor who worked on the isolation of plutonium with the Special Engineering Detachment
LaRoy Thompson – Cornell class of 1942, physically assembled the first bomb and flew the practice bombing run at Bikini Island. Later, senior vice president and treasurer of the
University of Rochester[11]
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 137.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 197.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 69.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 51.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 117.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.
^Ruth H. Howes; Caroline C. Herzenberg (2003). Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. p. 120.
ISBN978-1-59213-192-1.