Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

David R. Inglis was an American physicist who worked on the atomic bomb configuration design at Los Alamos from 1943 to 1946. He was present at the Trinity test. 

He was born in Detroit, MI on Oct. 10, 1905. He received his undergraduate degree from Amherest College in 1928 and his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1931 for a dissertation on energy relations in complex spectra. After the war, he worked as a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory in 1949 and he also was a prominent figure in the nuclear disarmament movement. He recieved honorary degrees from Amherst College and the University of Illinois in 1963 and 1973, respectively. He also received the Leo Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest in 1974.

He passed away on December 3, 1995 in the Applewood retirement community in Amherst, MA. 

For more information on his life and a collection of his works: http://scua.library.umass.edu/ead/mufs033.html

For interviews with David R Inglis: https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4690-1

David R. Inglis’s Timeline
1905 Oct 10th Born in Detroit, MI.

1931 Received Ph.D from University of Michigan.

19431946 Worked at Los Alamos.

1974 Received Leo Szilard Award for Physics in Public Interest.

1995 Dec 3rd Died in Amherst, MA.

Related Profiles

Clarence A. Faidley

Tinian Island

Clarence A. Faidley served in the 1st Ordnance Squadron.

T. L. Young

Y-12 Plant

T. L. Young worked for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at the Y-12 Plant.

James W. Strudwick

Hiroshima Mission

James W. Strudwick served as a captain in the 393rd Bombardment Squadron. He was regularly assigned as a bombardier in the Up An’ Atom.

Robert Wenzel

Los Alamos, NM