Atom bomb pioneer dies at 93

Victor F Weisskopf, an acclaimed physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb and later advocated arms control, has died at the age of 93.

Weisskopf, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died at his home in Newton.

Weisskopf, a protege of physicist Niels Bohr, was lauded both for his theoretical work in physics and his role in explaining science and its meaning to the public.

Since his work on the Manhattan Project in the Second World War, he warned of the weapons he helped develop, which he called ‘‘a shadow over my life’’.

Professor Robert L Jaffe, director of MIT’s Centre for Theoretical Physics, called Weisskopf ‘‘a giant of 20th-century physics, a great spokesman for peace, for the welfare of humanity and the beauty of physics.’’

‘‘His influence here at MIT and in the Centre for Theoretical Physics was beneficent and profound. His perpetual curiosity and his enthusiasm for new ideas and young people defined MIT’s style of doing physics,’’ Jaffe said.

Born in Vienna, Austria, on September 19, 1908, Weisskopf received his PhD from the University of Goettingen, Germany, in 1931 and went on to work at the University of Copenhagen and the Institute of Technology in Zurich.

He came to the United States in 1937, just before the Nazis took over Austria, to serve as instructor, then assistant professor at the University of Rochester.

He became a US citizen in 1943, the year he joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, to work on the atomic bomb.

In 1944, he was among the founders of the Federation of Atomic Scientists, which formed to warn against nuclear war and support peaceful uses of atomic energy.

In 1945, he was appointed associate professor of physics at MIT, and came to the Institute as a full professor in 1946. He later led the theory group in MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science.

From 1961 to 1965, Weisskopf was director-general of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, which operated one of the world’s most powerful ‘‘atom smashers.’’

He returned to MIT in 1966 to become Institute Professor, an MIT honour for faculty of great distinction.

From 1967 to 1973, Weisskopf headed the Department of Physics. He formally retired from MIT in 1974 after 28 years, but remained active as a senior lecturer.

Weisskopf is survived by his wife, Duschka; a daughter, Karen; a son, Thomas; and four grandchildren.