Manson Benedict
National Medal of Science
Engineering
For inspired and ingenious leadership in the development of gaseous diffusion plants for uranium isotope separation, and for his role in creating the discipline of nuclear engineering.
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Birth
October 9, 1907Age Awarded
68Country of Birth
USAKey Contributions
Work On Manhattan ProjectEstablished Discipline Of Nuclear Engineering
Awarded by
Gerald R. FordEducation
Cornell UniversityMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Areas of Impact
TransportationAffiliations
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyOther Prizes
Enrico Fermi AwardA neutron is fired at uranium-235, splitting the atom’s nucleus into pieces. This process – called “fission” – powered “Little Boy,” the 1945 nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The bomb works by sparking a chain reaction of neutrons striking nearby nuclei and releasing high amounts of energy in the form of a devastating explosion.
But the bomb’s key ingredient, uranium-235 – an isotope with a different atomic weight than its original element – wasn’t easy to come by in nature.
Manson Benedict, a scientist with the Manhattan Project, solved this problem, devising a way to separate uranium-235 from uranium-238 using a method called “gaseous diffusion.”
The process required a massive facility to house hundreds of cascades for reactions to take place.
Benedict – who would eventually become MIT’s first professor of nuclear engineering – supervised the building of Tennessee's K-25 plant where the fission-ready uranium isotopes used in “Little Boy” were produced.