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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Eric Jette (1897-1963) was an American metallurgist. 

He was a professor of metallurgy at Columbia University School of Mines before being recruited for the Manhattan Project.  During the middle of the war in 1943, his laboratory at Columbia University was taken over by the Chemical Warfare Service.  He was recruited by A.B. Kinzel of the Union Carbide Company to work on the Manhattan Project.  Soon Jette and his family were moved to Los Alamos, where he began to work under Cyril Smith in charge of metallurgy at the laboratory.  Jette worked on metallurgical aspects of plutonium. 

After the war, Jette remained at Los Alamos, where he became a division leader. In the mid-1950s, Jette accepted a position as director of the research institute for Union Carbide Corporation in New York, where he remained until his retirement.

Eric Jette’s Timeline
1897 Sep 30th Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

1943 Jette’s laboratory at Columbia University was taken over by the Chemical Warfare Service.

19431945 Worked on Manhattan Project at Columbia University and Los Alamos.

1963 Feb 22nd Died in Santa Fe.

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