Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

David M. Dennison

PhysicistWashington, DC

Scientist

David M. Dennison was an American physicist and a member of the Target Committee that was tasked with chossing specific targets for the atomic bombing of Japan.

Dennison received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Michigan in 1924 and conducted research at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen. There he studied quantum mechanics and had associations with other visiting physicists such as Paul Dirac, Samuel Goudsmit, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and George Uhlenbeck.

Dennison returned to Michigan in 1927 and joined the physics department under Harrison McAllister Randall. When World War II broke out, Dennison was assigned to work on the VT radio proximity fuse. In 1945, he was selected to be part of the Target Committee established by General Leslie R. Groves to select specific targets for the atomic bombing of Japan.

After the war, Dennison returned to Michigan and continued his research on molecular structure until his retirement in 1970.

David M. Dennison’s Timeline
1900 Apr 26th Born in Oberlin, Ohio.

1924 Received Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan.

1945 Member of the Target Committee for the atomic bombing of Japan.

19451970 Professor at the University of Michigan.

1976 Apr 3rd Died in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Related Profiles

Dale Babcock

Hanford, WA

Dale Babcock was a physical chemist and colleague of Crawford Greenewalt. Greenewalt took Babcock and a few other close DuPont colleagues with him into the new world of atomic energy.

Jimmy Vale

University of California, Berkeley

Jimmy Vale joined the Manhattan Project in 1943, where he helped operate calutrons as part of Ernest O.

Ernest W. Titterton

Los Alamos, NM

Ernest William Titterton was a British nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project as part of the British Mission to Los Alamos.

Robert Serber

Los Alamos, NM

Robert Serber (1909-1997) was an American physicist. He was recruited by J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the Manhattan Project.