Pacific Nuclear Tests

Alvin Graves (1909-1965) was an American physicist. Graves was invited to join the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory and in 1942 he accepted the position and became a member of the Manhattan Project. Graves helped to construct Chicago Pile-1, the first nuclear reactor, and was one of the three scientists on the emergency team that […]

Wilbert “Walt” Meyers (1921-2013) served in the Special Engineer Detachment (SED) at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. Meyers was born in McPherson, Kansas. During World War II, he served in the Army and was sent to Los Alamos as part of the Special Engineer Detachment. During his time there, his work included the loading […]

Joseph Gilbert “Joe” Hamilton (1907-1957) was a physician who directed biomedical research at the Berkeley site of the Manhattan Project. He later became director of the Crocker Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. The son of a pioneer in the field of psychology, Hamilton was born in Waverley, MA, but grew up in […]

Darol Froman (1906-1997) was an American-born, Canadian physicist. In 1939, Darol Froman studied waveguides and radar as part of a McGill group dedicated to helping the Canadian war effort. Three years later, Froman joined the Manhattan Project’s Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab) at the University of Chicago and observed the start of Pile-1, the first nuclear […]

Louis Henry Hempelmann (1914-1993) was Director of the Health Group at the Los Alamos site of the Manhattan Project. He remained at the forefront of radiobiology research even after the war, and was a close personal friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer.   EARLY LIFE AND ARRIVAL AT LOS ALAMOS The son of a doctor, Hempelmann […]

David Leonard Anderson (1919-1996) was an American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and in the Pacific. Born in Portland, Oregon, Anderson graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1941. During World War II, Anderson helped teach electronics to servicemen. As a civilian scientist and later as a Naval officer, […]

During WWII, Robert Goodell was a member of the Special Engineer Detachment (SED) and worked as the Technical Supervisor at the Y-12 Plant at Oak Ridge, TN. Before working at Oak Ridge, Goodell received his degree in Electrical Engineering from Alfred University. In 1946, Goodell participated in Operation Crossroads, the nuclear weapons tests conducted at […]

Roland Modlin was the Right Scanner for the plane Dave’s Dream in the 58th Bomb Wing of the 509th Composite Group. Medlin participated in the atomic tests during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll. 

Dale Johnson was a lieutenant commander responsible for operating drone boting in the Bikini lagoon during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests. The boats were used to sample radiation and contamination after the Able and Baker bomb tests. Johnson was a member of the Airborne Unity of US Navy Task Group 1.6.15 and witnessed two atomic […]

Col. Oliver Haywood was on General Leslie Groves‘ staff from May to December 1946. Haywood had a long military career after graduating from West Point in 1936 and receiving both a M.S. from Harvard University and a Doctor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On Groves’ staff he witnessed the […]