Harold Agnew
Harold Agnew | |
---|---|
Denver, Colorado, U.S. | |
Died | September 29, 2013 Solana Beach, California, U.S. | (aged 92)
Education | University of Denver (BA) University of Chicago (MS, PhD) |
Known for | Succeeded Norris Bradbury as director at Los Alamos |
Awards | E. O. Lawrence Award (1966) Enrico Fermi Award (1978) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
Thesis | The Beta-spectra of Cesium-137, Yttrium-91, Chlorine-147, Ruthenium-106, Samarium-151, Phosphorus-32, and Thulium-170 (1949) |
Doctoral advisor | Enrico Fermi |
Harold Melvin Agnew (March 28, 1921 – September 29, 2013) was an American physicist, best known for having flown as a scientific observer on the Hiroshima bombing mission and, later, as the third director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.[1]
Agnew joined the
Agnew returned to Los Alamos in 1949, and worked on the
Early life and education
Harold Melvin Agnew was born in
After the Japanese
At the Metallurgical Laboratory, Agnew worked with Enrico Fermi, Walter Zinn and Herbert L. Anderson.[4] There, he was involved in the construction of Chicago Pile-1. Initially, Agnew worked with the instrumentation. The Geiger counters were calibrated using a radon-beryllium source, and Agnew received too high a dose of radiation. He was then put to work stacking the graphite bricks that were the reactor's neutron moderator. He witnessed the first controlled nuclear chain reaction when the reactor went critical on December 2, 1942.[7][5][8]
Agnew and Beverly moved to the
Harold M. Agnew |
Beverly J. Agnew |
When experimental work wound down, Agnew was transferred to
During the
After the war ended, Agnew entered the University of Chicago, where he completed his graduate work under Fermi. Agnew and Beverly stayed with Fermi and his family, due to the post-war housing shortage.
Los Alamos years
With his doctorate in hand, Agnew returned to Los Alamos as a National Research Foundation Fellow, and worked on weapons development in the Physics Division.
Agnew served as a
From 1961 to 1964, he was Scientific Adviser to the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). He also held a number of part-time advisory position with the military over the years. He was a member of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 1957 to 1968, and was chairman of the Science Advisory Group of the United States Army's Combat Development Command from 1966 to 1970. He was a member of the Defense Science Board from 1966 to 1970, the Army's Scientific Advisory Panel from 1966 to 1974, and the Army Science Board from 1978 to 1984.[13]
Agnew became director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1970, when it had 7,000 employees.
Later life
In 1979, Agnew resigned from Los Alamos and became President and Chief Executive Officer of General Atomics, a position he held until 1985.[13] In his letter of resignation to David S. Saxon, the President of the University of California, Agnew wrote that his decision was influenced by "dissatisfaction with University administration policies and a lack of advocacy for the total LASL [Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory] program" and "frustration with what I consider to be a continuing inequitable distribution of defense program funding by the Department of Energy between the LASL and LLL [Lawrence Livermore Laboratory]."[25]
Agnew chaired the General Advisory Committee of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency from 1974 to 1978, and served as a White House science councillor from 1982 to 1989. He was a member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel from 1968 to 1974, and from 1978 to 1987. He became an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego in 1988. He was the recipient of the E.O. Lawrence Award in 1966, and of the Department of Energy's Enrico Fermi Award in 1978. Along with Hans Bethe, Agnew was the first to receive the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.[8][13][26][27]
A proponent of
Agnew maintained that no new U.S. nuclear weapon design could be certified without
Beverly died on October 11, 2011.[6] Agnew was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and died at his home in Solana Beach, California, on September 29, 2013, while watching football on television.[18][22] He was survived by his daughter Nancy and son John.[5] He had arranged to be cremated and to have his ashes interred with Beverly at the Guaje Pines Cemetery in Los Alamos.[32]
In a 2005 BBC interview, Agnew stated, "About three-quarters of the U.S. nuclear arsenal was designed under my tutelage at Los Alamos. That is my legacy."[12]
Notes
- ^ "Harold Agnew". Atomic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
- ^ "Harold Agnew with the Plutonium Core | Photographs | Media Gallery". www.atomicarchive.com. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
- PMID 24248340.
- ^ a b c Palevsky 2005, pp. 2–3.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ a b c "In Memoriam: Agnew and Ramsey" (PDF). Los Alamos Historical Society Newsletter. 30 (4): 3. December 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
- ^ Palevsky 2005, p. 5.
- ^ a b "Harold Agnew". Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ a b "Harold Agnew's Interview". Manhattan Project Voices. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ a b "American Experience . Race for the Superbomb . Harold Agnew on: The Hiroshima Mission". PBS. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ Krauss & Krauss 2005, p. 343.
- ^ a b "The men who bombed Hiroshima". BBC. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "Harold Agnew". American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ a b Palevsky 2005, p. 10.
- ^ "The beta spectra of Cs137, Y91, Chlorine147, Ru106, Sm151, P32, Tm170". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ "Operation Castle". Nuclear Weapon Archive. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ Palevsky 2005, p. 16.
- ^ a b Sharpe, Tom (September 30, 2013). "Former Los Alamos lab director Harold Agnew dies at 92". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ a b "Interview with Harold M. Agnew". Nevada Test Site Oral History Project. Solana Beach, California: University of Nevada, Las Vegas. October 10, 2005. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
- ^ "New Mexico State Legislature" (PDF). New Mexico Legislature. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 31, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
- ^ Roybal 2008, pp. 186–189.
- ^ a b Woo, Elaine (October 3, 2013). "Harold Agnew, head of atomic laboratory, dies at 92". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ a b "The Times They Were a Changin'" (PDF). Los Alamos Science. 4 (7): 73–79. Winter–Spring 1983. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ "The Agnew Years (1970–1979)". Los Alamos National Laboratory. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- .
- ^ "Award Laureates". Department of Energy. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ "Members". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
- ^ "Vintage Agnew" (PDF). Los Alamos Science. 4 (7): 69–72. Winter–Spring 1983. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ^ "Profile of Harold Agnew". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- . Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- Wall Street Journal. May 17, 1999. p. A27.
- ^ "Harold Agnew (1921–2013)". Nuclear Diner. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
References
- Krauss, Robert; Krauss, Amelia, eds. (2005). The 509th Remembered: A History of the 509th Composite Group as Told by the Veterans Themselves, 509th Anniversary Reunion, Wichita, Kansas October 7–10, 2004. Buchanan, Michigan: 509th Press. OCLC 59148135.
- Palevsky, Mary (October 10, 2005). Interview with Harold M. Agnew. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
- Roybal, David (2008). Taking on Giants : Fabián Chávez, Jr. and New Mexico Politics. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-826344-36-6.
External links
- 1994 Audio Interview with Harold Agnew by Richard Rhodes Voices of the Manhattan Project
- 1992 Video Interview with Harold Agnew by Theresa Strottman Voices of the Manhattan Project
- Register of the Harold Melvin Agnew motion picture film at the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University
- Oral History interview transcript for Harold M. Agnew 22 May 2006, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
- Oral History interview transcript for Harold M. Agnew 15 February 2007, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
- Richard L. Garwin, "Harold M. Agnew", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)