Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Jennet Conant is a bestselling American author and journalist. She is the granddaughter of Manhattan Project administrator James B. Conant and has written extensively on the Manhattan Project and some of its most prominent figures.

Conant was born in Seoul, South Korea. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a B.A. in Political Theory, and double-majored in Philosophy at Haverford College. She received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Conant worked at Newsweek for seven years and has also written for GQ, Esquire, Vanity Fair and the New York Times.

She is the author of five books on World War II: Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II (2002); 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos (2005); The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington (2008); A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS (2011); and Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist (2017).

Conant is a member of AHF’s Advisory Committee.

Related Profiles

Martin J. Sherwin

Washington, DC

Martin Jay Sherwin is an author and historian specializing in the development of atomic weapons and nuclear policy.

Lyle I. Gilbertson

Columbia University

Dr. Lyle I. Gilbertson worked at Columbia University for the duration of the Manhattan Project. Before working on the Manhattan Project, Gilbertson attained a Ph.

Denise Kiernan

Oak Ridge, TN

Denise Kiernan has worked as a journalist and producer. She is best known for The Girls of Atomic City, which came out in March 2013 and immediately shot to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list – and stayed there.

John Earl Haynes

Santa Fe, NM

John Earl Haynes (1944-) is an American historian, who specializes in twentieth-century political history.