Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Peter Vandervoort is an American astrophysicist and professor emeritus in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

Vandervoort received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1960. Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was his mentor. During his career at UChicago, Vandervoort studied or worked with numerous Manhattan Project veterans on the physics faculty, including Samuel Allison, Robert Mulliken, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer.

His current research focuses on stellar dynamics. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Adler Planetarium.

Related Profiles

Shirley Ida Bodmer

Chicago, IL

Shirley Bodmer (1925-2017) was a secretary at the Chicago Met Lab during the Manhattan Project.

Opaline Calhoun

Chicago, IL

Opaline Calhoun was a laboratory technician at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory (“Met Lab”) during the Manhattan Project.

Julia E. Freeman

Chicago, IL

Julia Elaine Freeman graduated high school early at age 16. She was also the only African American woman in her high school graduating class of 1940.

James Franck

Chicago, IL

James Franck (1882-1964) was a German physicist and winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize for Physics.   During the Manhattan Project, Franck served as Director of the Chemistry Division of the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory.