Brian Boru Dunne II (January 8, 1924 - November 30, 2017) was
Project Orion's chief scientist. Dunne worked on explosive model tests in
Point Loma, San Diego
Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
alongside
Jerry Astl and
Morris Scharff
Morris "Moe" Scharff was an American physicist and explosive engineer who researched the ablation aspects of the United States, American Project Orion (nuclear propulsion), Project Orion nuclear propulsion spacecraft in the 1950s and 1960s.
Moe ...
. He continued to work for
General Atomics
General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The ...
and later started his own firm called Ship Systems.
Project Orion
Dunne was the chief experimental scientist on Project Orion. He worked on Project Orion as an experimentalist. Dunne and Howard Kratz set up a facility for firing explosive-driven plasma jets as sample pusher-plate targets, after explosive-driven flights were cancelled.
Media appearances
* ''History Undercover: Code Name Project Orion'' (1999)
*
''To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion'' (BBC, 2003)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Brian
2017 deaths
1924 births
American scientists
Aeronautical engineers