George Braxton Pegram (October 24, 1876 – August 12, 1958) was an American
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
who played a key role in the technical administration of the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
. He graduated from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
(now Duke University) in 1895, and taught high school before becoming a teaching assistant in physics at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1900. He was to spend the rest of his working life at Columbia, taking his doctorate there in 1903 and becoming a full professor in 1918. His administrative career began as early as 1913 when he became the department's executive officer. By 1918, he was Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences but he resigned in 1930 to relaunch his research activities, performing many meticulous measurements on the properties of
neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...
s with
John R. Dunning. He was also chairman of Columbia's
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
department from 1913 to 1945.
Returning to administration as Dean in 1936, Pegram met
Enrico Fermi on his arrival in the United States. In 1940 he brokered a meeting between Fermi and the US Navy at which the prospect of an
atomic bomb was raised with the military for the first time. Following
Marcus Oliphant
Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapo ...
's mission to the United States in August 1941 to alert the Americans to its feasibility, Pegram and his colleague
Harold C. Urey led a diplomatic mission to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to establish co-operation on development of the atomic bomb. They soon found themselves on
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all warti ...
's
S-1 Section coordinating technical research. Columbia's physics department was home to the
SAM Laboratories, where many of the key technologies required for the bomb were developed.
After the war Pegram helped found the
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...
. He served as vice president of the university 1949 to 1950.
Early life
George Braxton Pegram was born in
Trinity, North Carolina
Trinity is a city in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,006 at the 2020 census. Trinity is part of the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area of the Piedmont Triad metro region.
History
The communi ...
, one of the five children of
William Howell Pegram William Howell Pegram (August 18, 1846 – April 30, 1928) was a U.S. chemist and educator.
Biography
Born Chalk Level, Harnett County, North Carolina, Pegram fought in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. His combat experie ...
, a professor of
chemistry at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
(now Duke University), and Emma, daughter of
Braxton Craven
Braxton Craven (August 22, 1822 – November 7, 1882) was an American educator. He served as the second president of the institution that became Duke University from 1842 to 1863 and then again from 1866 to 1882. The institution was known as Uni ...
, the college's founder and first president. He had two brothers and two sisters, all of whom graduated from Trinity College. His upbringing in the academic atmosphere of the campus left him with an appetite for careful methodical work and an inherent diplomacy.
Pegram graduated from Trinity College with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
(AB) degree in 1895, and became a high school teacher. He entered
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1900, becoming an assistant in physics.
He published his first two papers, on radioactive materials, the following year, and wrote his 1903
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
(PhD) thesis on "Secondary radioactivity in the electrolysis of thorium solutions". It was published in the
Physical Review that year. During the summer break in 1905, he worked for the
Coast and Geodetic Survey
The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...
on measuring the Earth's magnetic field at its observation stations.
In those days, promising American scholars in physics would normally further their education overseas. Pegram was awarded a
John Tyndall Fellowship for this purpose in 1907, and went to Germany, where he attended lectures at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
given by
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
and
Walther Nernst. In 1908, he moved on to the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
in England, where he heard lectures given by Sir
Joseph Larmor
Sir Joseph Larmor (11 July 1857 – 19 May 1942) was an Irish and British physicist and mathematician who made breakthroughs in the understanding of electricity, dynamics, thermodynamics, and the electron theory of matter. His most influent ...
. In his travels he visited some twenty European universities, and he met Florence Bement, a
Wellesley College graduate from Boston. They renewed their acquaintance after they returned to the United States, and were married at her aunt's home in
West Newton, Massachusetts
West Newton is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
Among the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages, the West Newton Village Center is a National Register Historic District. ...
on June 3, 1909. They had two sons, William, born in 1910, and John, born in 1916.
Early career
On returning to the United States in 1909, Pegram was appointed an
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree
A docto ...
at Columbia. He became an
associate professor in 1912, and a full professor in 1918.
He became the head of the physics department on the death of
William Hallock
William Hallock, Ph. D., D.Pharm. (1857–1913) was an American physicist, born at Milton, Ulster County, New York, Milton, New York.
He graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University, Columbia College in 1879, and received the degree of ...
in 1913, and held this position until 1945. He also became acting Dean of Columbia's School of Mines, Engineering, and Chemistry in 1917, and was its dean from 1918 until 1930. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he served on the administrative board of the Student Army Training Corps at Columbia. Classes commenced on October 1, 1918, with some 2,500 students. He was also dean of the US Army Radio School, US Army School of Photography, and US Army School of Explosives there, and was Director of Research of the
United States Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...
.
In 1917 and 1918, Pegram served on a committee established by the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
headed by the President of Columbia University,
Nicholas Murray Butler
Nicholas Murray Butler () was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the deceased Ja ...
, with
Michael I. Pupin
Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin ( sr-Cyrl, Михајло Идворски Пупин, ; 4 October 1858Although Pupin's birth year is sometimes given as 1854 (and Serbia and Montenegro issued a postage stamp in 2004 to commemorate the 150th anniversary o ...
as its secretary, that created a quartz
piezo-electric
Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ''p ...
sound detector for locating submerged submarines. The device worked, and the Naval Experimental Station at
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...
, took over its development in September 1918. He was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...
degree by Duke University in 1918.
Tired of administrative work, which kept him away from his research, Pegram asked Butler to relieve him of the position of dean in 1930. This request was accepted, in spite of Pegram's demonstrated ability as an administrator. His achievements included the construction of the
Pupin Physics Laboratories. Pegram was intimately involved in its design, insisting on a structure without load bearing internal walls, so that it could be reconfigured over time, and with large two-storey lecture theatres. He attempted to expose his physics students to ideas from Europe, inviting
Hendrik Lorentz, Larmor, Planck,
Max Born and
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent serie ...
to visit Columbia.
Pegram's research focus remained on radioactivity. In 1929, he had recruited a graduate student,
John R. Dunning, from
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...
, who built a linear amplifier. In 1935 and 1936 Dunning was able construct a cyclotron using many salvaged parts to reduce costs and funding from industrial and private donations.
James Chadwick
Sir James Chadwick, (20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974) was an English physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. In 1941, he wrote the final draft of the MAUD Report, which inspi ...
's discovery of the
neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...
in 1932 sparked a flurry of research into neutrons by Pegram and Dunning. Between 1933 and 1936, they would work together on two dozen papers, all on neutrons. He also collaborated with
Harold Urey
Harold Clayton Urey ( ; April 29, 1893 – January 5, 1981) was an American physical chemist whose pioneering work on isotopes earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934 for the discovery of deuterium. He played a significant role in th ...
on separating oxygen isotopes. This period came to an abrupt end when
Howard Lee McBain died suddenly on May 7, 1936, and Pegram became dean again on January 1, 1937.
A sympathetic administrator proved vital to building up the physics department at Columbia. Pegram hired
Isidor Isaac Rabi
Isidor Isaac Rabi (; born Israel Isaac Rabi, July 29, 1898 – January 11, 1988) was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, which is used in magnetic resonance ima ...
as a theoretical physicist on Heisenberg's advice. Rabi would later succeed Pegram as chairman of the physics department. When Pegram heard that
Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Enrico Fermi wanted to emigrate to the United States with his family to escape
Italian Racial Laws that affected his Jewish wife Laura, Pegram was quick to offer a position at Columbia. Recruiting Fermi was a coup; he had offers from four other universities, and Pegram was on the wharf to greet Fermi on his arrival in New York on January 2, 1939. Pegram supported the work of
Leo Szilard
Leo Szilard (; hu, Szilárd Leó, pronounced ; born Leó Spitz; February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was a Hungarian-German-American physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear ...
, granting him access to facilities and laboratory space in the Pupin Physics Laboratories. Other scientists working at Columbia in 1939 included
Herbert L. Anderson
Herbert Lawrence Anderson (May 24, 1914 – July 16, 1988) was an American nuclear physicist who was Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago.
He contributed to the Manhattan Project. He was also a member of the team which made the firs ...
,
Eugene T. Booth,
G. Norris Glasoe,
Francis G. Slack Francis Goddard Slack (November 1, 1897 – February 2, 1985) was an American physicist. He was a physics teacher, researcher, and administrator in academia who was renowned for placing equal emphasis on teaching and on research.
Education
Slack wa ...
and
Walter Zinn, making it one of the world's most important centers for
nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
.
Manhattan Project
The discovery of
nuclear fission by
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
and
Fritz Strassmann
Friedrich Wilhelm Strassmann (; 22 February 1902 – 22 April 1980) was a German chemist who, with Otto Hahn in December 1938, identified the element barium as a product of the bombardment of uranium with neutrons. Their observation was the ke ...
, followed by its explanation by
Lise Meitner and
Otto Frisch in December 1938, ignited a flurry of activity, with nearly one hundred articles on the subject published by the end of 1939. At Columbia, Fermi and Dunning were quick to verify Hahn's and Strassmann's results, and there was a lively debate over whether
uranium-235
Uranium-235 (235U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exi ...
or its more abundant
uranium-238 isotope was primarily responsible. Two groups began working at Columbia on attempting to create a
nuclear chain reaction in natural uranium. Both were in the Pupin Physics Laboratories, but working independently, at least initially, and on different floors: Fermi and Anderson in the basement, and Szilard and Zin on the seventh floor.
In March 1939, Fermi, Szilard and
Eugene Wigner
Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his co ...
met with Pegram in his office, and urged that their results be brought to the attention of the government. Pegram knew
Charles Edison
Charles Edison (August 3, 1890 – July 31, 1969) was an American politician, businessman, inventor and animal behaviorist. He was the Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd governor of New Jersey. Commonly ...
, the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy.
From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depar ...
, and arranged for Fermi to meet with
Rear Admiral Stanford C. Hooper, the technical assistant to the
Chief of Naval Operations. Echoing sentiments his father had articulated back in 1911, Pegram informed Hooper that uranium chain reaction might "liberate a million times as much energy per pound as any known explosive." Szilard, Wigner and
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
took their concerns to the President
Franklin Roosevelt in the
Einstein-Szilard letter. This prompted the creation of an
Advisory Committee on Uranium
The S-1 Executive Committee laid the groundwork for the Manhattan Project by initiating and coordinating the early research efforts in the United States, and liaising with the Tube Alloys Project in Britain.
In the wake of the discovery of nucl ...
under
Lyman J. Briggs, the director of the
National Bureau of Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
. On March 11, 1941, Pegram informed the Committee that it was "very doubtful whether a chain reaction can be established without separating 235 from the rest of the uranium." He therefore recommended that efforts be concentrated on finding a means of
separating the isotopes.
Initially, Fermi and Anderson had used a tank of water as a
neutron moderator. The hydrogen in the water was good at slowing neutrons, which was desirable, but it also absorbed them, which was not. In July 1939, Szilard suggested using carbon in the form of
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...
instead. Pegram attended the Advisory Committee on Uranium meeting on April 27, along with Fermi, Szilard and Wigner where the prospects for a chain reaction were discussed. On May 14, he was able to report that Szilard and Fermi had found that graphite indeed had a small
neutron absorption
Neutron capture is a nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus and one or more neutrons collide and merge to form a heavier nucleus. Since neutrons have no electric charge, they can enter a nucleus more easily than positively charged protons, ...
cross section
Cross section may refer to:
* Cross section (geometry)
** Cross-sectional views in architecture & engineering 3D
*Cross section (geology)
* Cross section (electronics)
* Radar cross section, measure of detectability
* Cross section (physics)
**Abs ...
, and would make an effective moderator. Pegram brought in members of the football team to stack graphite blocks, and purchased uranium from the
Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited
Eldorado Resources was a Canadian mining company active between 1926 and 1988. The company was originally established by brothers Charles and Gilbert LaBine as a gold mining enterprise in 1926, but transitioned to focus on radium in the 1930s an ...
in Canada. The uranium and graphite "pile", as Fermi called it, soon grew too large for the Pupin Physics Laboratories. Fermi recalled that:
By September 1941, they had built a uranium and graphite cube high there.
The Advisory Committee on Uranium was placed under
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all warti ...
's
National Defense Research Committee
The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...
when it was established in June 1940, and Pegram was added to its membership. Following
Mark Oliphant
Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...
's mission to the United States in August 1941 to alert the Americans to the
atomic bomb's feasibility, Pegram and his Urey led a diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom to establish co-operation on development of the atomic bomb. In December 1941, the S-1 Uranium Committee was placed directly under Bush's
Office of Scientific Research and Development
The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May 1 ...
, with the word "uranium" dropped for security reasons.
James Conant became its chairman, with Pegram as his vice chairman. The United States' entry into World War II following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
gave the project a new urgency when the S-1 Committee next met on December 18, 1941.
In August 1942 the United States Army took over the effort, which became the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
. The S-1 Committee was reorganised as the S-1 Executive Committee, and Pegram dropped out. Columbia's physics department became home to the
SAM Laboratories, where many of the key technologies required for the bomb were developed by over 700 researchers. Pegram chaired Columbia's Committee on War Research. He worked closely with the
Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory on a number of projects, most notably the development of the Magnetic Airborne Detector (MAD) at Columbia's
Airborne Instruments Laboratory at
Mineola on
Long Island.
Later life
Despite its early involvement and important role, the Manhattan Project had not been kind to Columbia.
Arthur Compton had concentrated
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
research at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
in 1942. After the war, scientists there had access to the research reactors at the government-sponsored
Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi and Urey were lured away to Chicago. When the war ended in August 1945, the Physics Department at Columbia had five vacant chairs. Filling them would be no easy task. Physicists were hailed as heroes, and every major university was eager to recruit the best ones to build up their departments. They were offered high salaries, and when they left they often took their students and post-doctoral assistants with them. Even the quintessential New Yorker Rabi was tempted to leave rather than return to Columbia from his wartime work at the
MIT Radiation Laboratory
The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 ...
. He offered to stay, but one condition:
Rabi felt that to compete with the University of Chicago, Columbia needed to have access to a research reactor too; but the cost was greater than Columbia could afford without collaborating with other institutions, government assistance, or both. On January 16, 1946, Pegram convened a meeting of representatives of 16 different colleges, universities, hospitals and research institutions like the
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
. The meeting drafted a request to the director of the Manhattan Project,
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...
Leslie R. Groves, Jr., asking him to establish a regional research laboratory near New York City. In response, Groves sent
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
Kenneth Nichols
Major General Kenneth David Nichols CBE (13 November 1907 – 21 February 2000), also known by Nick, was an officer in the United States Army, and a civil engineer who worked on the secret Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb du ...
to meet with Pegram and Rabi and their opposite numbers from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
,
Hugh S. Taylor and
Henry D. Smyth on February 8. They found Nichols amenable to their idea; all he wanted to know was where it would be built, and who would run it.
Getting agreement on this required all of Pegram's negotiating talents, as
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
wanted the facility located in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Pegram assembled a group of nine universities, Columbia,
Cornell
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...
, Harvard,
Johns Hopkins, MIT, Princeton,
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
,
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, and
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, as the Initiatory University Group (IUG), and he persuaded Groves to provide initial funding for the project.
Lee DuBridge
Lee Alvin DuBridge () was an American educator and physicist, best known as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1946–1969.
Background
Lee Alvin DuBridge was born on , in Terre Haute, Indiana. His father was Fred DuBridge, ...
was appointed as the head of the IUG. Finding a site that was both accessible and remote proved to be a challenge, but eventually one of found at
Camp Upton
Camp Upton was a port of embarkation of the United States Army during World War I. During World War II it was used to intern enemy aliens. It was located in Yaphank, New York in Suffolk County on Long Island, on the present-day location of Bro ...
on Long Island. The new research center became the
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...
.
Although no longer chairman of the Physics Department, Pegram remained the dean until 1949. He also chaired Columbia's Committee on Government-Aided Research from 1945 to 1950 and again from 1951 to 1956, and vice president of the university 1949 to 1950, when
Dwight Eisenhower was university president. In addition, Pegram was involved with a number of professional organizations. He attended the first meeting of the
American Physical Society in 1899, and was its treasurer from 1918 to 1957, also serving as its president in 1941. He was also treasurer of
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...
from 1917 to 1949, serving as its president from 1949 to 1951, and of the
American Institute of Physics
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...
. which he helped to found, from 1938 to 1956, and its secretary too from 1931 to 1945.
Pegram died in
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1958. His papers are in the Columbia University Library.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pegram, George Braxton
1876 births
1958 deaths
Manhattan Project people
American physicists
Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Columbia University alumni
Columbia University faculty
People from Trinity, North Carolina
Presidents of the American Physical Society