Alvin Martin Weinberg (April 20, 1915 - October 18, 2006) was a nuclear physicist and administrator at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He came to Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1945 and remained there until his death in 2006. is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nuclear physics is the branch of physics concerned with the nucleus of the atom. ... A combination of federal, state and private funds is providing $300 million for the construction of 13 facilities on ORNLs new main campus. ... Oak Ridge is an incorporated city in Anderson and Roane Counties in East Tennessee, about 25 miles northwest of Knoxville. ...

Early years in Chicago

Alvin Weinberg was born April 20th, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in mathematical biophysics in 1939. He worked at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago thereafter, before his the war intervened and he went to work at a newly formed laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ...

Work at Oak Ridge

He served as director of the laboratory's Physics Division from 1945 to 1948, when he became Research Director for the laboratory. He was name director of the laboratory in 1955. ^[1] Weinberg often sat in the front row at ORNL division information meetings and ask the first, often a very penetrating, question after each scientific talk. For young scientists giving their first presentation, the experience could be frightening but was also exciting and stimulating. When asked how he found the time to attend every meeting, Weinberg replied jokingly, "We didn't have a DOE in those days." Doe is the term used for the females of various species of animal, including: some species of deer rabbits In job and classified ads, DOE is an acronym for Depending On Experience and usually indicated in pay rates. ...

Weinberg had the Materials Testing Reactor converted into a mock-up of a real reactor called the Low Intensity Test Reactor (LITR), or the "Poor Man's Pile." Experiments at the LITR led to the design of both pressurized-water and boiling-water nuclear reactors, which have since become the dominant reactor types in commercial nuclear power plants. A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. ...

In the late 1940s Weinberg asked ORNL's reactor engineers to design a reactor using fluid fuel instead of solid fuel. This Homogeneous Reactor Experiment (HRE) was affectionately dubbed "Alvin's 3P reactor" because it required a pot, a pipe, and a pump. The HRE went into operation in 1950 and at the criticality party Weinberg brought the appropriate spirits: "When piles go critical in Chicago, we celebrate with wine. When piles go critical in Tennessee, we celebrate with Jack Daniel's." The HRE last 105 days before it was closed down. Weinberg even invited Senator Jack Kennedy and Senator Albert Gore, Sr. to visit the reactor, but to no avail. Nevertheless, information was still gained from operation of the HRE. A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... JFK redirects here. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Sr. ...

Weinberg's next project, the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, set a record for continuous operation and was the first to use uranium-233 as fuel. It was known as the "chemist's reactor" because so many of the problems which cropped up were chemical ones. The molten salt reactor experiment was a 7. ...

Under Weinberg's tenure as director, ORNL's Biology Division five times the size of the next largest division. This division was charged with understanding how radiation interacts with living things and to try and find ways to help them survive radiation damage, such as bone marrow transplants. In the 1960s Weinberg He also pursued new missions, like in the 1960s for the Laboratory, such as using nuclear energy to desalinate seawater. He recruited Philip Hammond from Los Alamos to further this mission and in 1970 started the first big ecology project in the United States: the National Science Foundation-Research Applied to National Needs Environmental Program. The logo of the National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. ...

In 1958 Weinberg published The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors with Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner. It was destined to become a classic in the field. He was elected president of the American Nuclear Society in 1959 and began service on President's Science Advisory Committee the following year. In 1965 he was appointed vice president of the Union Carbide Corporation's Nuclear Division. Weinberg retired from ORNL in 1973 after 18 years as the lab's director. Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul Wigner (Hungarian Wigner Pál Jenő) (November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian physicist and mathematician who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and... Union Carbide of South Charleston, West Virginia is a chemical manufacturer, now a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. ...

Washington and ORAU

Weinberg was named director of the U.S. Office of Energy Research and Development in Washington, D.C. in 1974. The following year he founded and became the first director of Institute for Energy Analysis at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). This institute focused on evaluating alternatives for meeting future energy requirements. From 1976 to 1984, the Institute for Energy Analysis was a center for study of diverse issues related to carbon dioxide and global climate. Weinberg worked at ORAU until retiring to become an ORAU distinguished fellow in 1985. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In order to meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article requires cleanup. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1850 to 2006 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans in recent decades and the projected...

Retirement

Weinberg was named chairman of the International Friendship Bell Committee in 1992. He also called for strengthening of the International Atomic Energy Agency and systems to defend against nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957. ...

Books

• The Physical Theory of Neutron Chain Reactors
• Reflections on Big Science
• The Second Nuclear Era: A New Start for Nuclear Power
• Continuing the Nuclear Dialogue
• Strategic Defenses and Arms Control
• Stability and Strategic Defenses
• Nuclear Reactions: Science and Trans-Science
• The First Nuclear Era: The Life and Times of a Technological Fixer

References

1. ^ Richardson, Darrell. "Brilliant Scientist" Dies at 91. The Oak Ridger. 2006-10-19.

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• ORNL Homepage
• Annotated bibliography for Alvin Weinberg from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
• Biography from Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Biography from Oak Ridge Associated Universities