Kenneth Bainbridge


Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge was an American physicist at Harvard University who did work on cyclotron research. His precise measurements of mass differences between nuclear isotopes allowed him to confirm Albert Einsteins massenergy equivalence concept. He was the Director of the Manhattan Projects Trinity nuclear test, which took place July 16, 1945. Bainbridge described the Trinity explosion as a foul and awesome display. He remarked to J. Robert Oppenheimer immediately after the test, Now we are all sons of bitches. This marked the beginning of his dedication to ending the testing of nuclear weapons and to efforts to maintain civilian control of future developments in that field.

Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge was born in Cooperstown, New York, the second of three sons of William Warin Bainbridge and Mary Grinnell Tompkins. He was educated at Horace Mann School in New York. While at high school he developed an interest in ham radio which inspired him to enter Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1921 to study electrical engineering. In five years he earned both bachelor of science and master of science degrees. During the summer breaks he worked at General Electrics laboratories in Lynn, Massachusetts and Schenectady, New York. While there he obtained three patents related to photoelectric tubes.

Source: Wikipedia


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