Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Robert Lamphere (1918-2002) supervised many investigations of Soviet spies during the Cold War. He served as the FBI’s liaison to the top-secret Venona Project, which worked to break Soviet codes and revealed the extent of Soviet espionage in the United States.

His early espionage cases focused on those who attempted to infiltrate the Manhattan Project. In 1950, his interrogation of Klaus Fuchs in London led to the identification and arrest of Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Robert Lamphere's Timeline
1918 Feb 14th Born in Wardner, Idaho.
1941 Sep Joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1947 Transferred to FBI headquarters as a Supervisory Special Agent and placed in charge of counterintelligence on satellite countries of the USSR.
1948 Began work on top-secret Venona project to decode Soviet intelligence cables.
1950 May Interrogated Klaus Fuchs in London.
1955 Left the FBI.
2002 Jan 7th Died of prostate cancer in Tucson, Arizona.

Related Profiles

Paul Doty

Columbia University

Paul Doty (1920-2011) was an American biochemist. He was born in Charleston, West Virginia on June 1, 1920.

Donald Hornig

Los Alamos, NM

Donald “Don” Hornig (1920-2013) was an American chemist. Hornig was recruited to join the laboratory at Los Alamos in 1944, just one year after receiving his doctorate in physcial chemistry from Harvard University.

Lloyd K. Garrison

Washington, DC

Lloyd K. Garrison (1897-1991) was an American attorney. A liberal lion, Garrison was born into a family with a proud tradition of activism.

John A. Derry

Washington, DC

Major John A. Derry was a  top military assistant, mainly working in Washington D.C., during the Manhattan Project.