John Shacter

Chemical EngineerOak Ridge, TN

Columbia UniversityK-25 Plant

EngineerEuropean RefugeeManhattan Project Veteran

Listen to John Shacter’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

John Shacter was born in Austria and immigrated to the United States after Hitler came to power in Germany. After receiving a chemical engineering degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1943, he was hired by Union Carbide to work on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University. He then transferred to the K-25 Plant in Oak Ridge, where he was involved in overhauling the plant and greatly reducing the cost of uranium, advancements that helped make the modern nuclear industry possible.

John Shacter’s Timeline

1938 Arrived in the United States from Austria.

1943 Hired to work on the Manhattan Project.

1944 Moved from Oak Ridge to Columbia to continue working on the Manhattan Project.

Related Profiles

Robert Thornton

Y-12 Plant

Robert Lyste Thornton was a Canadian-American physicist who oversaw the constuction and operation of the Beta calutron electromagnetic separation Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the Manhattan Project.

S. H. Barrett

Y-12 Plant

S. H. Barrett worked for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at the Y-12 Plant.

Sam V. Owen

K-25 Plant

Sam Owen worked for the Kellex Corporation at the K-25 Plant.

Mary E. Parrish

Chicago, IL

Mary E. Parrish was a research assistant at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory (“Met Lab”) during the Manhattan Project.