Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Aaron Novick was a physical chemist at various Manhattan Project sites, including the University of Chicago, Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Novick started as a student in organic chemistry at the University of Chicago in the early 1940s and assisted Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard with their efforts. He later was transferred to do research on plutonium production at Hanford, Washington. Finally, Novick was transferred to New Mexico, where he witnessed the first atomic detonation in history at the Trinity Site. After the war, Novick was an outspoken critic of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. 

Aaron Novick’s Timeline
1941 Studied and worked at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard

1945 Jul 16th Witnessed the first atomic detonation at the Trinity Site in Alamogardo. New Mexico.

2000 Dec 22nd Died in Oregon

Leo Szilard and Aaron Novick in their biology laboratory at the University of Chicago after World War II. Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago Special Collections.

Related Profiles

Irma E. Shuler

Los Alamos, NM

Irma E. Shuler was a personnel office manager at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. She was also the second wife of physical chemist and Los Alamos scientist George Kistiakowsky.

Robert Alvarez

K-25 Plant

Attended the City College of New York. 

Frederick Reines

Los Alamos, NM

Frederick Reines (1918-1998) was an American physicist. Reines received his Ph.D. in physics in 1944 from New York University.

Jacob Beser

Hiroshima Mission

Jacob Beser served as a 1st lieutenant in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron’s Radar Section. He was the radar specialist aboard the Enola Gay bombing mission to Hiroshima and on Bockscar during the Nagasaki mission.