april american physicist best known accomplishments particle physics environmental science received phd physics princeton writing thesis propagation shock waves world war joined united_states_navy served manhattan_project worked design explosive lenses required type nuclear weapon involved investigation disaster served manhattan_project team sent hiroshima nagasaki inspect bomb damage war began long academic career princeton_university director princeton director princeton new combined interest sea science working summers massachusetts studied marine worked woods hole institution early life born new_jersey son wife secretary attended new_jersey year received bachelor degree physics entered princeton_university awarded master science degree earned phd supervision writing thesis studies production propagation interactions shock waves manhattan_project world war raging time doctorate topic area highly sought wartime manhattan_project turned offer join avid surf fisherman sailor join united_states_navy attempted enlist turned wore glasses lobbied navy waived requirement commissioned ensign married librarian waited assignment instead assignment hoped sent manhattan_project assist design explosive lenses required type nuclear weapon april named men like working naval officers sent investigate disaster ammunition ship blown harbor tasked estimating size explosion based observations damage estimate tons tnt tons tnt tons bill subsequently found tons confirming estimate researchers determined atomic bomb maximum damage detonated air ground level later served manhattan_project operations field served worked responsible fat man bomb firing unit flew number practice missions bombing hiroshima nagasaki fighting ended manhattan_project team sent hiroshima nagasaki inspect bomb damage princeton war accepted offer assistant princeton_university spend rest career promoted associate professor professor interested cosmic rays director princeton initially recruited eventually professor division head went chairman later hired reputation spotting hiring talent assured won nobel prizes cosmic ray research attempted grow large organic crystal use particle materials struck incoming particle absorb energy light areas scientific research frustrated cracks crystals attempted problem liquid surprise liquid effective crystal today liquid widespread use nuclear biological medical research developed automated ray collecting data protein structures interest environmental issues increased late 1960s princeton established appointed director leadership investigated number unusual inter disciplinary topics energy conservation buildings indoor air quality relationship nuclear power nuclear weapons decision making process environmental issues career princeton spent time england churchill fellow cambridge_university later visiting senior research fellow oxford_university visiting professor oxford_university class professor physics professor emeritus years combined interest sea science working summer massachusetts studied marine worked woods hole institution died cancer home new_jersey april survived wife virginia sons richard robert david
George T. Reynolds