Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Wendell Edwards

Columbia University
African-American

Wendell Edwards was born in Snow Hill, Alabama in 1907. Although his father was the founder of Snow Hill Institute in 1893, He graduated from Laurinburg Institute in 1925. From there he attended Talladega College, and graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Physics. He later attended Columbia University during the formation of the Manhattan Project, and graduated with a Masters Degree in Mathematics and Physics. He did research under Professors Fermi, Szilard, Zinn, and Anderson. His identification card listed him as a Junior Physicist. He died on May 25, 1975.

Related Profiles

Julius Sirota

Columbia University

Julius Sirota was an Americah chemist. He worked for the Substitute Alloy Materials on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University.

Valeria Steele Roberson

Oak Ridge, TN

Valeria Steele Roberson is the granddaughter of Kattie Strickland, an African American who moved to Oak Ridge from Alabama with her husband to work on the Manhattan Project.

Leo James Rainwater

Hanford, WA

Leo James Rainwater was an American physicist and winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics.  As a graduate student at Columbia University, Rainwater assisted the Manhattan Project through research in the Substitute Alloy Materials (SAM) Lab.

Miriam Levin Melkonian

Columbia University

Miriam Levin Melkonian grew up in Manhattan. After graduating from Hunter College with a degree in music, she briefly worked for the U.