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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Thomas Lauritsen

PhysicistLos Alamos, NM

Manhattan Project VeteranScientist
Thomas Lauritsen. Photo courtesy the AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives.

Thomas Lauritsen was a Danish-born American physicist. His research focused on the nuclear spectroscopy of the light nuclei.

Lauritsen and his parents emigrated to the United States in 1916. His father, Charles Lauritsen, became a renowned physicist at Caltech, and Thomas followed in his footsteps. He received his PhD from Caltech in 1939 and later became a professor in the physics department. He and his father worked on rocket development at Caltech during the war, and on nonnuclear components of the bomb at Los Alamos. After the war, they helped establish the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. 

Thomas Lauritsen’s Timeline
1915 Nov 16th Born in Denmark.

1916 Emigrated to the US with his parents.

1936 Received BS from Caltech.

1939 Received PhD in physics from Caltech.

1945 Worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.

1973 Oct 16th Passed away.

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