Boris Pregel
Boris Pregel (
In Paris he came in contact with
His first wife, the daughter of a Saint Petersburg lawyer, predeceased him.[3] In 1937 he remarried to the artist Alexandra Avksentiev, the daughter of Nikolai Avksentiev. In 1939 he was awarded the French Legion of Honour in recognition of his role as the head of the International Organisation to Fight Cancer.[1] The couple fled to New York in 1940, after the Nazi invasion of France.[6]
After his arrival in the US he established, with his brother Alexander, the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp of New York[3] and became its president to sell the newly discovered rich ores in northern Canada, and later also in Colorado.[5][7] George B. Pegram and his associates at Columbia University, who did some of the initial work on the Manhattan Project, sought Pregel's assistance because they did not have sufficient money to buy the uranium.[5] Pregel gave them the first uranium used in the experiments. Pregel's company also built radioactive neutron sources and radioactive luminescent signs.[5]
Pregel was also the agent for the Canadian Eldorado Mining & Refining Co. which supplied the Manhattan Project with nearly all the uranium mined in North America. He also sold 0.23 tonnes of uranium oxide to the Soviet Union during the war, with the authorization of the U.S. government.[8]
In March 1945 the Canadian Foreign Exchange Control Board began formal hearings into Pregel's financial dealings. The case was settled out of court but Pregel and the other defendants paid over $1 million in cash and other assets to settle. Furthermore, Pregel agreed to terminate his agency agreement between Eldorado and the Canadian Radium & Uranium Corp.[9]
He served as president and board chairman of the New York Academy of Sciences, as president of the
References
- ^ a b "Boris Pregel, French Philanthropist, Named to Legion of Honor". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 24 August 1939. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ^ "Transcript of an interview of Boris Pregel by Spencer Weart in New York in the Niels Bohr Library & Archives (1975)". Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^
- ISBN 9783319118291.
- ^ .
- ^ "Biography of Alexandra Avksentiev on Art & Tech Inc. web-site". Retrieved 21 June 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
- ^ Time March 13, 1950
- ISBN 0-8020-3414-4