Donald Hornig dies at 92: Ex-Brown president developed atomic bomb

zap2it ^

[SMGFan]

Donald F. Hornig, a scientist, former president of Brown University, and a key member of the Manhattan Project, has died at 92-years-old. The Associated Press reports that he passed away following a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Hornig was a physical chemist who studied at Harvard before working on the Manhattan Project from 1944-1946. The Manhattan Project was the government program that developed the atomic bomb for use in World War II.

When asked, in a 1968 interview, about the first atomic detonation, Hornig recalled, "The minute the firing needle dropped off and I knew it had detonated, I dashed out the door in time to see the fireball rising into the sky." He also discussed his reaction, saying, "I was awestruck, just literally awestruck. This thing was more fantastic than anything I had ever imagined."

After the war, Hornig became a professor at Brown, before moving to Princeton. He also served as a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee under the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations and served under the Johnson administration as a special assistant to the president.

[SMGFan]

R.I.P.

[BobL]

This man shows just how far we’ve declined.

He was a HERO to Americans, likely saved on the order of a millions lives.

But now he would be LAUGHED OUT of academe, for being such a WAR-MONGER.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[ClearCase_guy]

I have "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes (I also have "Dark Sun: the making of the hydrogen bomb" by the same author). The first book is 886 pages of solid popular history. It won a Pulitzer Prize and is perhaps the best general history of the whole effort.

Hornig is mentioned on page 665. Also 667-670. He designed the capacitors which helped fire the detonators.

To say he "developed the atomic bomb" might be going a little overboard.

But RIP. Every bit helped.

[al baby]

This comes to my mind regarding this man and all of those belonging to the greatest generation

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

[vetvetdoug]

I read “The Manhattan Project” by Groueff and the effort to make the bomb was accomplished by many brilliant people and men that knew how to solve problems. Many corporate giants donated their efforts to the project as well as many physicists and academics. There are whole cities located in New Mexico and Tennessee that were dedicated to the effort (read “The Oak Ridge Story”). To say that one man built the bomb is rather typical of the current MSM.

[bubbacluck]

Thanks for the tip. The book looks to be very well written. I am going to Kindle it in a bit.

[Nifster]

I am always disgusted when obits for people who worked on massive projects are somehow hailed as the KEY figure. Without the work of Oppenheimer, Teller, Fermi, Einstein and so many others the bomb would NEVER have happened.

Hornig was part of it and an important part but not the KEY figure. There was no key figure

[onedoug]

Bump!

Donald F. Hornig, RIP