Joseph Oakland Hirschfelder

Biographical Profile: http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-p...; uploaded - see "Documents" under the "Media" tab.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_O._Hirschfelder; http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_O._Hirschfelder

"JOSEPH OAKLAND HIRSCHFELDER WAS one of the leading figures in theoretical chemistry during the period 1935-90. His sustained research program not only spanned five and one half decades but a wide number of scientific areas as well: chemical kinetics, chemical applications of quantum mechanics, combustion, nuclear explosions, kinetic theory of gases, intermolecular forces, structure of liquids, and laser chemistry. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences at the relatively early age of forty-two and he was chosen to be a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at age forty-eight. At age sixty-five he received the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford “for his fundamental contributions to atomic and molecular quantum mechanics, the theory of the rates of chemical reactions, and the structure and properties of gases and liquids.” Despite his exalted standing in the field of chemical physics, he was a very approachable and gregarious individual. He always insisted on being called “Joe,” and he was always thus addressed by colleagues, students, secretaries, and janitors. " From the introduction to Joseph Oakland Hirschfelder, 1911—1990; A Biographical Memoir National Academies Press (1995).

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From Wikipedia:

"Joseph Oakland Hirschfelder (May 27, 1911 – March 30, 1990) was an American physicist who participated in the Manhattan Project and in the creation of the nuclear bomb.[1][2] Robert Oppenheimer assembled a team at the Los Alamos Laboratory to work on plutonium gun design Thin Man, that included senior engineer Edwin McMillan and senior physicists Charles Critchfield and Joseph Hirschfelder. Hirschfelder had been working on internal ballistics. Oppenheimer led the design effort himself until June 1943, when Navy Captain William Sterling Parsons arrived took over the Ordnance and Engineering Division and direct management of the "Thin Man" project.[3] Hirschfelder was a member of the National Academy of Sciences,[1][2] a group leader in theoretical physics and ordnance at the Los Alamos Atomic Bomb Laboratory,[1] chief phenomenologist at the nuclear bomb tests at Bikini,[1] the founder of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute and the Homer Adkins professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin.[1] Hirschfelder was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[2] He was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford “for his fundamental contributions to atomic and molecular quantum mechanics, the theory of the rates of chemical reactions, and the structure and properties of gases and liquids.”[2]

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http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/31/obituaries/j-o-hirschfelder-78-at...

J. O. Hirschfelder, 78, Atom Bomb Developer

Published: March 31, 1990

Joseph Oakland Hirschfelder, a physicist and educator who contributed to the development of the atomic bomb, died of cancer yesterday at his home in Madison, Wis. He was 78 years old.

Dr. Hirschfelder retired in 1981 as the Homer Adkins professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He had been affiliated with the university since 1937 and was the founder of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute there.

From 1943 to 1946 he was a group leader in theoretical physics and ordnance at the Los Alamos Atomic Bomb Laboratory. He was also chief phenomenologist at the atomic bomb tests at Bikini.

A graduate of Princeton University with Ph.D.'s in physics and chemistry, Dr. Hirschfelder was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science in 1976. Earlier this year, the University of Wisconsin established the Hirschfelder Professorship in Theoretical Chemistry in his honor.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and a sister, Rosalie Akerlof of Walnut Creek, Calif.

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In 1991 an award was established in his name by the University of Wisconsin's Theoretical Chemistry Institute - the annual Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry. He was an elected member of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.