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John Ray Dunning (September 24, 1907 – August 25, 1975) 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 key roles in 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 ...
that developed the first
atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
s. He specialized in neutron physics, and did pioneering work in gaseous diffusion for
isotope separation Isotope separation is the process of concentrating specific isotopes of a chemical element by removing other isotopes. The use of the nuclides produced is varied. The largest variety is used in research (e.g. in chemistry where atoms of "marker" ...
. He was Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science 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 ...
from 1950 to 1969.


Early life

John Ray Dunning was born in Shelby, Nebraska, on September 24, 1907, the son of Albert Chester Dunning, a grain dealer, and his wife Josephine Dunning née Thelen. He graduated from Shelby High School in 1925,and entered
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 ...
where he became a member of
Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...
fraternity, and received 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 yea ...
(B.A.) degree in 1929. After graduation, Dunning commenced a doctoral program 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 1932,
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 ...
discovered 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 atomic nucleus, nuclei of atoms. Since protons and ...
, which influenced Dunning's career, as he thereafter devoted much of his professional interest to the characteristics and uses of this particle. Dunning's research was enthusiastically supported at Columbia by
George B. Pegram George Braxton Pegram (October 24, 1876 – August 12, 1958) was an American physicist who played a key role in the technical administration of the Manhattan Project. He graduated from Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1895, and taught hig ...
. In 1933, Dunning was an instructor at Columbia University from 1929 to 1932, and a university fellow from 1932 to 1933. He received his Ph.D. in 1934, writing his thesis on "The Emission and Scattering of Neutrons" under Pegram's supervision. Dunning married Esther Laura Blevins in 1930. They had two children, John Ray, Jr., who became a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at
Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's ...
, and Ann Adele.


Manhattan Project

After gaining his doctorate at Columbia, Dunning continued teaching and research there, becoming an assistant professor in 1935, and an associate professor there in 1938. Dunning was a central figure at Columbia on neutron research, and went on to publish 24 papers on neutrons between 1934 and 1938. In 1936, Dunning received a Traveling Fellowship, which he used to meet and discuss his neutron physics research with many eminent European nuclear physicists including
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...
,
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 ...
, Fermi,
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 Über quantentheoretische Umdeutung kinematis ...
, and
Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...
. Dunning closely followed the work of
Ernest Lawrence Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope separation fo ...
on the
cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Jan ...
. Dunning wanted a more powerful neutron source and the cyclotron appeared as an attractive tool to achieve this end. Government funding was not available for such projects in those days, and university budgets were tight. Nonetheless, during 1935 and 1936 he was able construct a cyclotron using many salvaged parts to reduce costs and funding from industrial and private donations. It was announced in 2007 that
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 ...
has decided to junk a 70-year-old atom smasher, which is the nation's oldest artefact of the nuclear era. After being decommissioned in 1965, the machine sat in the basement of Pupin Hall, home of Columbia's physics department. It was scrapped in 2008, although some components are in the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
in Washington, DC. In December 1938, the German chemists
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 ...
sent a manuscript to ''
Naturwissenschaften ''The Science of Nature'', formerly ''Naturwissenschaften'', is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering all aspects of the natural sciences relating to questions of biological significance. I ...
'' reporting they had detected the element
barium Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...
after bombarding
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
with
neutrons 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 behave ...
. They communicated these results to
Lise Meitner Elise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who was one of those responsible for the discovery of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on r ...
, who, with her nephew
Otto Frisch Otto Robert Frisch FRS (1 October 1904 – 22 September 1979) was an Austrian-born British physicist who worked on nuclear physics. With Lise Meitner he advanced the first theoretical explanation of nuclear fission (coining the term) and first ...
, correctly interpreted these results as being the result of
nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radio ...
. Frisch then confirmed this experimentally on January 13, 1939. Even before it was published, Meitner’s and Frisch’s interpretation of the work of Hahn and Strassmann crossed the Atlantic Ocean with
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922 ...
, who was to lecture at
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 ...
.
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 ...
and Willis Lamb, two
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 ...
physicists working at Princeton, heard the news and carried it back to Columbia. Rabi said he told Fermi; Fermi gave credit to Lamb. It was soon clear to a number of scientists at Columbia that they should try to detect the energy released in the nuclear fission of uranium from neutron bombardment. On 25 January 1939, Dunning was a member of the Columbia team that conducted the first nuclear fission experiment in the United States. in the Other members of the team were
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 first ...
, Eugene T. Booth,
Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" an ...
, G. Norris Glasoe, and Francis G. Slack. Bohr argued that it was the
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 ...
isotope that was responsible for fission. Dunning realised that if this was the case, then an
atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
would be possible. His thoughts turned to devising a process for
uranium enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 ...
, and by 1940 he was investigating gaseous diffusion, which he felt appeared to be more effective than the electromagnetic method of Alfred Nier and offered the best route to enrichment on an industrial scale. The researchers at Columbia 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 ...
's Substitute Alloy Materials (SAM) Laboratories. Dunning headed the laboratory division responsible for all aspects of the gaseous diffusion program, including engineering problems, pilot plants and research activities. Four papers co-written with
James Rainwater Leo James Rainwater (December 9, 1917 – May 31, 1986) was an American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei. During World War II, he worked on the ...
, William W. Havens, Jr., and
Chien-Shiung Wu ) , spouse = , residence = , nationality = ChineseAmerican , field = Physics , work_institutions = Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica University of California at Berkeley Smith College Princeton University Columbia UniversityZhejiang ...
appeared in 1947 and 1948, but much remained classified. Due to the secrecy of this work, Dunning and three of his colleagues were awarded $300,000 each in lieu of patent royalties. For his part, Dunning was awarded the Medal for Merit by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Harry S. Truman. His citation read:


Later life

In 1946, Dunning became Thayer Lindsley Professor of Applied Science at Columbia. In the immediate post-war years he was Scientific Director for Construction of the
Nevis Laboratories Nevis Labs is a research center owned and operated by Columbia University. It is located in Irvington, New York, on the property originally owned by Col. James Alexander Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton, a graduate of Columbia College. Ja ...
, a collaborative effort of Columbia University, the
United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...
, and the
Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to pl ...
. He became Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1950. This ended his active research career, but he was active in fundraising for what became the Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Building and the Terrace Engineering Center extension. By the time he stepped down as Dean in 1969, he had raised $50 million for the school. During the 1950s, Dunning was often consulted on nuclear technology matters by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...
Hyman G. Rickover, the head of the Navy's nuclear powered ships project. Dunning was elected to the
United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the N ...
in 1948, and the
Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...
Hall of Fame. Over the years he served as Chairman of the New York City Board of Education Advisory Committee on Science Manpower, the President's Committee on Supersonic Transport and the Science Advisory Council to the Legislature of the State of New York. He was a Member of the Board, of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
and the Science Advisory Committee of the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. Fascinated by nuclear technology and eager to share his knowledge with the public, Dunning gave numerous public talks on the subject, and made frequent appearances on television and radio. He helped write a ''
Blondie and Dagwood ''Blondie'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. The comic strip is distributed by King Features Syndicate, and has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930. The success of the strip, which features the eponym ...
'' comic that explained nuclear energy in simple terms. In one experiment, he drank irradiated salt water, and used a
geiger counter A Geiger counter (also known as a Geiger–Müller counter) is an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. It is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental p ...
to demonstrate to his audience how his fingers became radioactive as sodium-24, with its
half life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ...
of 15 hours, circulated through his bloodstream. He died from a heart attack at his home in
Key Biscayne, Florida Key Biscayne is an island town in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The population was 12,344 at the 2010 census. Key Biscayne lies south of Miami Beach and east of Miami. The village is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originall ...
, on August 25, 1975, and was buried at North Cemetery in
Sherman, Connecticut Sherman is the northernmost and least populous town of Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,527 at the 2020 census. The town was formed in 1802 from the northern part of New Fairfield. It is named for Roger Sherm ...
, near where he had another home. He was survived by wife, son and daughter.


Selected publications

*John R. Dunning ''The Emission and Scattering of Neutrons'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 45, Issue 9, 586–600 (1934). Institutional citation: Department of Physics, Columbia University. Received 5 March 1934. * H. L. Anderson, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, E. Fermi, G. N. Glasoe, and F. G. Slack ''The Fission of Uranium'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 55, Number 5, 511–512 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 16 February 1939. *E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and F. G. Slack ''Delayed Neutron Emission from Uranium'', ''Phys. Rev. '' Volume 55, Number 9, 876–876 (1939). Institutional citation: Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 17 April 1939. *E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and F. G. Slack ''Energy Distribution of Uranium Fission Fragments'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 55, Number 10, 981–981 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 1 May 1939. *E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and G. N. Glasoe ''Range Distribution of the Uranium Fission Fragments'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 55, Issue 10, 982–982 (1939). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 1 May 1939. *A. O. Nier, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and A. V. Grosse ''Nuclear fission of separated uranium isotopes'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 57, Issue 6, 546–546 (1940). Received 3 March 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. *A. O. Nier, E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, and A. V. Grosse ''Further experiments on fission of separated uranium isotopes'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 57, Issue 8, 748–748 (1940). Received 13 April 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. *E. T. Booth, J. R. Dunning, A. V. Grosse, and A. O. Nier ''Neutron Capture by Uranium (238)'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 58, Issue 5, 475–476 (1940). Received 13 August 1940. Booth, Dunning, and Grosse were identified as being at Columbia University, New York, New York. Nier was identified as being at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. *A. V. Grosse, E. T. Booth, and J. R. Dunning ''The Fourth (4n+1) Radioactive Series'', ''Phys. Rev.'' Volume 59, Issue 3, 322–323 (1941). Institutional citation: Pupin Physics Laboratories, Columbia University, New York, New York. Received 11 January 1941.


Bibliography

*John R. Dunning ''Matter, Energy and Radiation (Columbia College Natural Science Series)'' (McGraw Hill, 1941) *John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) ''Hot Laboratory Operation and Equipment, Volume III. Fifth Hot Laboratories and Equipment Conference'' (Symposium Publications Division Pergamon Press, 1957) *John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) ''Advances in Nuclear Engineering, Volume I. Proceedings of the Second Nuclear Engineering and Science Conference'' (Pergamon Press 1957) *John R. Dunning and Bruce R. Prentics (editors) ''Advances in Nuclear Engineering, Volume II. Proceedings of the Second Nuclear Engineering & Science Congress'' (Pergamon Press 1957)


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunning, John R. 1907 births 1975 deaths People from Shelby, Nebraska 20th-century American physicists American nuclear physicists Manhattan Project people Nebraska Wesleyan University alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Medal for Merit recipients Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences