Important Faces of the Manhattan Project

Ernest O. Lawrence  - Ernest Orlando Lawrence

Known as the "Father of Y-12," Ernest O. Lawrence played an integral part in the production of the fuel for the world’s first atomic bomb.  His career began in 1928 when he was appointed Associate Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley.  His work went full force in 1929 when he invented the cyclotron.  For many years thereafter, he continued to revise and craft his invention, a tool that would prove extremely useful during WWII.

At Berkeley, Lawrence was called the "Atom Smasher" and considered the man who "held the key" to atomic energy.  In 1936, he became director of the University's Radiation Laboratory, and when America entered the war, he was tapped for the Manhattan Project.

His vision for the cyclotron was to create a machine that would produce very high energy particles required for atomic disintegration by means of a succession of very small "pushes" without using high voltage.  Because the cyclotrons were created at the University of California, Berkeley, they became known as "calutrons."

Enormous calutrons were built and used at the Y-12 Beta-3 Calutron Plant to purify uranium.  This method, also known as electromagnetic separation, was the most successful method used to separate highly enriched Uranium 235 from Uranium 238.

Lawrence was eager to help ramp up the American investigation into a weapon fueled by nuclear fission.  His laboratory at Berkeley became a major center for wartime atomic research, and it was Lawrence who first introduced Oppenheimer to the Manhattan Project.

At war’s end, Lawrence became an advocate of "big science" and pushed hard for government sponsorship of related projects. The Nobel Prize winner in Physics received numerous awards throughout his lifetime including the inaugural Sylvanus Thayer Award from the United States Military Academy for service to his country. He was also honored when Chemical element number 103 was named "lawrencium" in his honor.

For more information on Ernest O. Lawrence, visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_O._Lawrence