News Archive

On August 3, 2020, Helene Suydam died peacefully in her sleep at age 100. John Ruminer, member of the Board of Directors of the Los Alamos Historical Society, described Helene as “an iconic member of our community.  Her sixty-plus years on Bathtub Row touched the lives of many of our best-known historical families.  She had […]

On the evening of April 12, 2019, esteemed physicist Dr. Geoffrey Chew passed away at the age of 94. Chew was born in Washington, D.C. in 1924. After receiving his B.S. in Physics from George Washington University in 1944, he was recommended by one of his professors to join Edward Teller’s team on the Manhattan […]

AHF joins Oak Ridgers and Manhattan Project families in mourning the loss of our friend James Edward “Ed” Westcott, the official photographer for the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Ed died on March 29, 2019 in his home in Oak Ridge at the age of 97. As Cindy Kelly, AHF President, commented, “Ed Westcott’s […]

On February 28, 2019, Manhattan Project veteran Esther Green Floth passed away in Dublin, California at 96 years old. As a young woman, Floth was a secretary for General Leslie Groves in Washington, D.C. Floth was born in Watkins Glen, New York on June 9, 1922. She spent her childhood helping her parents at their […]

Manhattan Project veteran Roy Glauber passed away on December 26, 2018 at the age of 93. Glauber, recruited to join the project when he was 18 years old, was one of the youngest scientists at Los Alamos during World War II. Glauber was born in New York City on September 1, 1925. Because his father […]

On Friday, November 9, 2018, Fay L. Cunningham passed away in Littleton, Colorado at the age of 96. Cunningham worked on the Manhattan Project at MIT and went on to become a chemical engineer for the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Cunningham was born July 26, 1922 in Lansing, Michigan. After graduating high school in […]

Manhattan Project veteran William “Bill” K. Coors passed away on October 13, 2018. Coors was born August 11, 1916 in Golden, Colorado. His grandfather, Adolph Coors, was the founder of the Coors Brewing Company. Coors attended Phillips Exeter Academy, where he suffered from depression, homesickness, and loneliness. In a 2018 interview with the Atomic Heritage […]

Manhattan Project veteran Ted Petry passed away on July 28, according to the University of Chicago. Petry was 94. He was the last known living witness to Chicago Pile-1, the first controlled, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. AHF was fortunate to be able to interview Petry earlier this year. You can watch the interview on the […]

By Avani Sihra On Thursday, May 3, 2018, David Pines passed away in Urbana, Illinois from pancreatic cancer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he was an accomplished physicist whose work centered on theoretical astrophysics. During World War II, he was an undergraduate student and then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, until […]

We are sad to report the passing of our friend Ralph Gates. Gates passed away on Monday, May 7, 2018 at the age of 93. Gates was born on January 24, 1925 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. After beginning a college career studying chemical engineering, Gates enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday. He […]