Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Harrie Massey

PhysicistUniversity of California, Berkeley

Britain
Manhattan Project VeteranProject Worker/StaffScientist
Harrie Massey, photo courtesy of the European Space Agency

Harrie Massey (1908-1983) was an Australian physicist.

A brilliant student of physics, Massey arrived from his native Australia at Cambridge College in the United Kingdom on an academic scholarship. He quickly became one of the country’s most noted physicists. When war broke out in 1939, Massey was one of the scientists who led efforts to analyze the mines being deployed on British ships by the German Navy.

In 1943, the United Kingdom and United States signed the Quebec Agreement, initiating cooperation between British and American atomic science programs. Massey was soon dispatched to the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an important part of the British team sent there to help develop an electromagnetic isotope separation process. In 1945, he became the leader of that delegation.

After the war, he returned to England, becoming a professor of physics at University College, London. He remained active in physics and became one of the leading forces in the development of the British space program.

Harrie Massey’s Timeline
1908 May 16th Born in Invermay, Victoria, Australia.

1928 Received a B.Sc. in physics from the University of Melbourne.

1932 Received a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge College.

19391943 Analyzed mines for the British military.

19431945 Worked as a member of the British team at Berkeley to develop an electromagnetic isotope separation process.

1945 Became the head of the British scientific delegation to Berkeley.

1983 Nov 27th Died in Esher, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Related Profiles

Raymond Welle

Tinian Island

Raymond Welle served in the 1395th Military Police Aviation.

Judd C. Nevenzel

Los Alamos, NM

Judd Nevenzel was a staff worker at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Paul Ware

Oak Ridge, TN

C. E. Harris

Oak Ridge, TN

C. E. Harris worked for the Tulip Town Super Market.