Philippe Halban

BiologistBritain

CanadaFrance

Family Member of Manhattan Project Veteran

Listen to Philippe Halban’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Philippe Halban is a European cell biologist. He received his PhD from the University of Oxford and then pursued an academic career in diabetes research at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and Harvard University, USA. He is currently an Emeritus Professor of Medicine in Geneva, where he lives.

Philippe Halban is the son of Austrian Physicist Hans Halban. His father passed away when Philippe was 14, but the fact that his father was a scientist inspired Philippe to pursue and become a scientist in his own right.

Related Profiles

Samuel Goudsmit

Alsos Mission

Samuel Goudsmit (1902-1978) was a Dutch-American physicist. In May 1944, Goudsmit became scientific director of the Manhattan Project’s Alsos Mission, a top-secret operation responsible for gathering intelligence on Germany’s atomic program.

William Gregory Marley

Britain

William (W.) Gregory Marley was a British physicist and photography expert, who was part of the British Mission to Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Gale Young

Chicago, IL

Gale Young was a research associate in theoretical studies at the University of Chicago Met Lab. Before joining the Manhattan Project in 1942, Young taught mathematics and physics at Olivet College.

John Cairncross

Britain

John Cairncross (1913-1995) was a British literary scholar, civil servant, and Soviet atomic spy. In the 1990s, Cairncross was identified as the “fifth man” in the Cambridge spy ring, which consisted of four other Soviet double agents: Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Kim Philby.