Eugene G. Zukas worked at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.
Zukas received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1942. Drafted into the Army, he spent a stint at Ohio State University awaiting further assignment before he joined the Manhattan Project as a member of the Special Engineer Detachment at Oak Ridge. Zukas worked at the K-25 Plant; his wife, Martha, was a nurse at Oak Ridge Hospital. He was later assigned to Los Alamos, where he served as a plutonium metallurgist.
After the war, Zukas earned his Master’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and then a Ph.D. from Lehigh University. In 1952, he returned to Los Alamos and went on to work in the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 35 years. He received numerous honors and awards for his work and authored several scientific papers.
Zukas passed away on February 10, 2011 at the age of 89.