Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Richard Watts

Research AssistantChicago, IL

Los Alamos, NM
Manhattan Project VeteranProject Worker/Staff

Richard Watts was a research assistant at the Chicago Met Lab and at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. He was present on December 2, 1942, when Chicago Pile-1 went critical. He recorded statistics of the experiment in his notebook, and when the pile went critical reportedly wrote, “We’re cookin’!” 

At Los Alamos, Watts led a team in the Electronics Group of the Physics Division. They developed a number of alpha-particle detectors–culminating in the portable “Pee Wee”–named for its mere nineteen pounds, to detect radioactivity in the work environment.

Related Profiles

H. R. Johnson

B Reactor/100 Area

Johnson worked at the 100-B Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project. 

Harold D. Dunleavy

Los Alamos, NM

E. B. Haines

Hanford, WA

Haines worked at the 100-B Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project.

K.G. Jones

Research & Development/300 Area

Jones worked at the 300 Area at Hanford during the Manhattan Project.