Overview
Joseph W. Kennedy (May 30, 1916 – May 5, 1957) was an American chemist who co-discovered Plutonium and worked on weaponizing it as part of the Manhattan Project. He received his Bachelor’s degree at Stephen F. Austin State Teacher’s College, his Master’s degree from the University of Kansas, and his PhD from UC Berkeley.
Pre-War
Kennedy was one of the co-discoverers of plutonium, along with Glenn Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, and Arthur C. Wahl in 1940. In particular, Kennedy built the instruments to verify the presence of the new element. They observed the creation of plutonium during experiments where uranium was bombarded with deuterons, creating neptunium (element 93), which, after beta-decay, created plutonium (element 94).
A paper about the discovery was submitted to the Physical Review, but was withdrawn after Seaborg, Emilio Segrè, and Kennedy discovered in 1941 that plutonium-239 was fissile, or able to sustain a fission chain reaction. After that, the patent was sold to the government, who made the existence of the element secret.
During the War
In March 1943, Kennedy was recruited for the Manhattan Project (started in 1942). Upon arrival, he became Acting Head of the Chemistry and Metallurgy (CM) Division at the Los Alamos lab, which was responsible for “purification and fabrication of active, tamper, and initiator materials of the bomb”. In layman’s terms, they attempted to discover reliable methods to manufacture and shape plutonium. Despite initial concerns over Kennedy’s young age of 26, he did well in the position.
Kennedy was one of the few scientists who attended the Trinity test.
Safety Concerns
Kennedy became concerned with the safety of his work early on. Initially, he agreed to hide the discovery of plutonium from the public (and even managed to keep it secret from his wife, until she came across references to “PU” while in Los Alamos), and, during his time with the Manhattan Project, acted as part of a committee which attempted to develop better plutonium exposure tests.
In his book, as revealed by his wife Adrienne Lowry, Kennedy devoted a whole chapter to peaceful uses of atomic energy. He wondered about how they could possibly control the terrible thing they had let loose, and questioned the decision to drop a second bomb.
Post-War
After the war, Kennedy was bombarded with solicitations offering professorship from multiple colleges, including Harvard and Stanford. He ultimately accepted a position at Washington University in St. Louis.
He died of hereditary stomach cancer (from his mother’s side) on May 5, 1957 at the age of 40.
References
Atomic Heritage Foundation. (2018). Joseph W. Kennedy. [online] Available at: https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/joseph-w-kennedy [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].
Atomic Heritage Foundation. (2018). Plutonium. [online] Available at: https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/plutonium [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Joseph W. Kennedy. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_W._Kennedy [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].
Lowry, A. (2014). .
MANHATTAN DISTRICT HISTORY PROJECT Y THE LOS ALAMOS PROJECT. (1961). Los Alamos.