Edward Melkonian was an American physicist. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt on June 29, 1920, to parents of Armenian heritage who had fled persecution in Turkey.
In 1921, the family moved to the United States, settling in West New York, New Jersey. A gifted student, Melkonian received a scholarship to attend Columbia University in 1937. He graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1940, and earned his master’s degree the following year. Melkonian studied quantum mechanics under Enrico Fermi.
Melkonian’s pursuit of his Ph.D. was interrupted by the U.S. entry into World War II and the launch of the Manhattan Project. During the war, his research focused on uranium isotope separation. He also worked at the Manhattan Project site at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
After the war, Melkonian completed his Ph.D. While conducting research on Columbia’s cyclotron, he met and married Miriam Levin Melkonian, who had also worked on the Manhattan Project at Columbia. He taught nuclear science at Columbia for many years, and also was involved in work at Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Laboratories.
Information contributed by Karen Melkonian, Edward Melkonian’s daughter.