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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Harry Palevsky (1919-1990) was an American engineer.

A Chicago native, Palevsky began his work on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory shortly after finishing his undergraduate career at Northwestern University. After a stint in Chicago, he was transferred to the Los Alamos project site in 1942, and would remain there until the end of the war.

Throughout his entire tenure with the Manhattan Project, Palevsky had moral misgivings about the Manhattan Project and the prospect of nuclear weapons. These anxieties crystallized in light of the massive casualties caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He vowed to never again do research that would contribute to the production of weapons. He later became a delegate to the Geneva Atoms for Peace Conferences in 1955 and 1957, and he formally endorsed anti-war Senator George McGovern during his 1972 campaign for the presidency.

Harry Palevsky’s Timeline
1919 Sep 16th Born in Chicago, IL.

19421945 Worked as an engineer at Los Alamos.

1972 Formally endorsed George McGovern’s campaign for president.

1990 Sep 18th Died in Ventura, CA.

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