Marvin Fox

PhysicistColumbia University

MIT

Scientist

Dr. Marvin Fox (1910-1965) was an American physicist. As a Ph.D. student at Columbia University, Fox worked with Isidor Rabi and Harold Urey, with whom he collaborated on isotope separation studies.

In 1942, Fox was recruited to join the Radiation Laboratory (“Rad Lab”) at MIT. In 1944, he joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia. After the war, he served as Chairman of the Reactor Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he helped build the first reactor dedicated to peaceful uses of atomic energy.

Marvin’s son, David Fox, was five years old when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. An interview with David about his father’s work on the Manhattan Project can be found here.

Marvin Fox’s Timeline

1910 Feb 1st Born in Cleveland, Ohio.

1931 Received a B.S. from the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

1936 Received a Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University.

1942 Joined the Radiation Laboratory at MIT.

19441945 Worked on the Manhattan Project at the Substitute Alloy Materials Lab (SAM) at Columbia University.

1947 Joined Brookhaven National Laboratory as a senior scientist.

19521957 Served as Chairman of the Reactor Department at Brookhaven.

19571959 Appointed to the Italian Atomic Energy Commission in Rome.

1965 Mar 19th Died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.

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