Benjamin Bederson

Biography

Abstract

Benjamin Bederson is a physicist, who worked on designing the ignition switches for the implosion bomb during the Manhattan Project. He later became a professor and dean at New York University.

Important Dates

November 15, 1921Birth, New York (N.Y.).

1944 – 1946Member, Special Engineering Detachment, U. S. Army, Manhattan Project, Los Alamos Laboratory, Los Alamos (N.M.).

1946Obtained BSc, City College of New York, New York (N.Y.).

1948Obtained MA, Columbia University, New York (N.Y.).

1950Obtained PhD in Physics, New York University, New York (N.Y.).

1950 – 1951Staff Member, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

1952 – presentAssistant Professor to Professor of Physics (1952-1992); Chair, Department of Physics (1973-1976); Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Science (1986-1989); and Emeritus Professor of Physics (1992-present), New York University, New York (N.Y.).

1962Visiting Scientist, Laboratoria Gas Ionizzati (CNEN).

1968 – 1969Visiting Fellow, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), University of Colorado, Boulder.

1972 – 1975Member, Advisory Committee to the Physics Division, National Science Foundation.

1973Visiting Fellow, Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami.

1978 – 1992Editor, Physical Review A, American Physical Society.

1990Visiting Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University.

1992 – 1996Editor-in-Chief, Physical Review, American Physical Society.

January 6, 2023Death.

Occupation

Atomic physicist.

Places

Birth

New York (N.Y.)

Undergraduate Education

New York (N.Y.)

Graduate Education

New York (N.Y.)

Employment

Los Alamos (N.M.)

New York (N.Y.)

Death

New York (N.Y.)

Subjects

Astrophysics.

Atomic and molecular physics.

Collisions (Nuclear physics).

Relationships

People

Family

Bederson, Benjamin B.

Son.

Bederson, Betty Weintraub

Wife.

Advisors & Collaborators

Stroke, H. Henry

Co-wrote "History of the NYU Physics Department: 1831-2000."

Zacharias, Jerrold Reinach, 1905-1986

Post-doctoral advisor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); both employed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Manhattan Project and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Colleagues

Agnew, Harold M.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Aizenman, Michael

Both employed at New York University.

Allison, Samuel King, 1900-1965

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Anderson, Herbert Lawrence

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Barschall, H. H. (Henry Herman), 1915-1997

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Bloch, Felix, 1905-

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Brenner, Howard

Both employed at New York University.

Case, Kenneth M.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Chaikin, Paul M.

Both employed at New York University.

Chamberlain, O. (Owen)

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Christy, Robert F.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Condon, Edward Uhler, 1902-1974

Both employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Corson, Dale R.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Creutz, E.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Cummins, Herman Z., 1933-

Both employed at New York University.

Deutsch, Martin, 1917-2002

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Duffield, Robert B.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Fitch, Val L., 1923-2015

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Glauber, Roy J., 1925-

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Haurwitz, Bernhard

Both employed at New York University.

Hohenberg, Pierre C.

Both employed at New York University.

Horn, Paul (Paul M.)

Both employed at IBM.

Hornig, Donald F., 1920-2013

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Koonin, Steven E.

Both employed at New York University.

Kraichnan, Robert H., 1928-2008

Both employed at New York University.

Marshak, Robert E. (Robert Eugene), 1916-1992

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Mayer, Maria Goeppert, 1906-1972

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

McDaniel, Boyce D. (Boyce Dawkins), 1917-

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Panofsky, Wolfgang K. H. (Wolfgang Kurt Hermann), 1919-2007

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Rieser, Leonard M.

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Ruderman, Malvin A.

Both employed at New York University.

Schiff, Leonard I. (Leonard Isaac), 1915-1971

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Spruch, Larry

Both employed at New York University.

Swinney, H. L., 1939-

Both employed at New York University.

Turkevich, Anthony, 1916-2002

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Wiesner, Jerome B. (Jerome Bert), 1915-1994

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Zumino, B. (Bruno), 1923-

Both employed at New York University.

Additional

Biondi, Manfred Anthony, 1924-

Crompton, R. W. (Robert Woodhouse)

Fisher, Leon H. (Leon Harold), 1918-

Lin, Chun C.

Miller, Thomas M., 1940-

Varney, Robert N.

Waymouth, John F., 1926-

Institutions

Major Positions

CNEN (Agency : Italy)

Visiting Scientist.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Visiting Fellow.

Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics

Visiting Fellow.

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

Member, Special Engineering Detachment, U. S. Army, Manhattan Project.

Manhattan Project (U.S.)

Member, Special Engineering Detachment, U. S. Army, Los Alamos Laboratory.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics

Staff Member.

New York University

Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Science.

New York University. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD in 1950; Assistant Professor to Professor of Physics; Chair, Department of Physics; and Emeritus Professor of Physics.

University of Miami. Center for Theoretical Studies

Visiting Fellow.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Physical Society

Editor-in-Chief, Physical Review and Editor, Physical Review A.

College of the City of New York (1926-1961). City College. Physics Department

Obtained BSc in 1946.

Columbia University. Department of Physics

Obtained MS in 1948.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.)

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Member, Advisory Committee to the Physics Division.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Ben Bederson interview of Larry Spruch, Sidney Borowitz and Ed Gerjuoy [videorecording], 26 July 2004.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Los Alamos and Tinian: [videorecording] a personal memoir, 2006 February 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

SEDs at Los Alamos: A Personal Memoir

Subject

Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project - 65th Anniversary [sound recording], April 2008.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Chun C. Lin, 2008 October 14.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John F. Waymouth, 2008 October 14.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Leon H. Fisher and Robert N. Varney, 2008 July 26.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Manfred Biondi, 2008 August 16.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Robert W. Crompton, 2011 May 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Thomas M. Miller, 2008 October 14.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

WWII & NYC: Building the Atomic Bomb

Library

New-York Historical Society

170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024

Published Resources

Author

Applied atomic collision physics / edited by H.S.W. Massey, E.W. McDaniel, B. Bederson.

History of the New York University Physics Department

History of the NYU Physics Department : 1831-2000 / Benjamin Bederson, H. Henry Stroke.

ICPEAC – The Early Days

More things in heaven and earth : a celebration of physics at the millennium / Benjamin Bederson, editor.

Subject

The Manhattan project : the birth of the atomic bomb in the words of its creators, eyewitnesses, and historians / edited by Cynthia C. Kelly ; introduced by Richard Rhodes.