(1900–1982). Born in Kiev, Russia, where he fought in the White Russian Army, he studied in Germany under Maxwell Bodenheim, where he obtained his doctorate in chemistry. In 1926, he came to the U.S. and became an American citizen in 1933. For 41 years, he was Professor of Chemistry at Harvard; in addition to many chemical awards, he was the recipient of the Priestley Medal as well as distinguished Medals of Honor from three Presidents of the U.S. President Eisenhower appointed him as his assistant for science and technology, and he was chairman of the Science Advisory Committee from 1957 to 1963. Among his many achievements in both chemistry and physics, he was a world-famous authority on explosives. A key member of the Manhattan Project, he devised the detonating mechanism for the first experimental atomic bomb in New Mexico, at which time he was head of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Though he ranks high among those who developed the bomb, he perceived the awesome destructive potential of nuclear weapons and became an ardent opponent of their future use. Resigning from the Pentagon in 1967, he returned to teaching at Harvard. Among other distinguished organizations, he was a member of the Royal Society of London, the AAAS, and the ACS.
