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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Jane Hamilton Hall (1915-1981) was an American physicist.

Shortly after receiving her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1942, Hall became a research assistant at the Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.

Her reputation as an excellent scientist and administrator earned her a position as a Senior Supervisor at Hanford less than a year later. At Hanford, in addition to her normal duties, she led several studies that uncovered information about the effects of plutonium inhalation on the human body.

After the war, Hall and her husband, David Hall, moved to Los Alamos to work for Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was a firm believer in the importance of guiding the next steps of America’s nuclear program. In 1958, she was named assistant director of the Laboratory. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Hall as the first woman member of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission.

She retired from the Laboratory in 1970, the same year that she became the first woman to receive the Atomic Energy Commission Citation. Hall passed away in 1981 at the age of 66.

Jane Hall’s Timeline
1915 Jun 23rd Born in Denver, Colorado.

1937 Earned a B.S. from the University of Chicago.

1938 Earned an M.S. from the University of Chicago.

1942 Received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago.

1943 Began working at the University of Chicago “Met Lab.

1944 Began working as a Senior Supervisor at Hanford, WA.

1945 Joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory staff.

1958 Named assistant director at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1966 Appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission’s General Advisory Commission.

1970 Became the first woman to receive the Atomic Energy Commission Citation.

1981 Nov Died in Santa Fe, NM.

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