Alice Kimball Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Alice Marchant Kimball May 8, 1907 Oak Park, Illinois, United States |
Died | February 6, 2001 |
Occupation | Author, historian |
Alma mater |
Mount Holyoke College Yale University |
Alice Kimball Smith (1907–2001) was an American historian, writer, and teacher, particularly known from her writing from personal experience on the Manhattan Project. [1] [2] [3]
Smith was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1907. [1] She first went to college at Mount Holyoke College [4] where she obtained her A.B in 1928. [1] Eight years later, she got her PhD from Yale University. [5]
In 1943 her and her husband Cyril moved to Los Alamos when her husband joined the Manhattan Project. [1] She soon got a teaching job in Los Alamos where her and her husband became friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty. [1] She would use her experiences around Los Alamos as material in her future books. [6] [7] [8] Smith, in her study of American A-bomb scientists interviewed many Los Alamos scientists who gave blank answers about the nature of the weapon that they were creating. [9]
Smith and her husband moved to Chicago after World War II ended. [1] Smith became the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists assistant editor where she worked for many years. [1] She was a lecturer at Roosevelt College and a dean, assistant dean and scholar at Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. [1] [10] Smith also briefly was a guest columnist in The New York Times in 1983. [11]
Smith wrote books like A Peril and a Hope: The Scientists' Movement in America, 1945–1947 [12] [13] and co edited (with Charles Weiner) [14] Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections [15] with the latter being a collection of letters from J. Robert Oppenheimer between 1922 and 1945. [1] [16] [17] [18] Her book A Peril and a Hope: The Scientist' Movement in America, 1945–1947 was nominated for a National Book Award for Nonfiction in the Science, Philosophy and Religion category. [19] A Peril and a Hope was about the growing negative sentiment of scientists about creating the atomic bomb due to their concerns over the sociopolitical consequences of its usage. [20]
Alice Kimball was married to British metallurgist Cyril Smith. [1] She died on February 6, 2001, at her home in Ellensburg, Washington. [10]
Alice Kimball Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Alice Marchant Kimball May 8, 1907 Oak Park, Illinois, United States |
Died | February 6, 2001 |
Occupation | Author, historian |
Alma mater |
Mount Holyoke College Yale University |
Alice Kimball Smith (1907–2001) was an American historian, writer, and teacher, particularly known from her writing from personal experience on the Manhattan Project. [1] [2] [3]
Smith was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1907. [1] She first went to college at Mount Holyoke College [4] where she obtained her A.B in 1928. [1] Eight years later, she got her PhD from Yale University. [5]
In 1943 her and her husband Cyril moved to Los Alamos when her husband joined the Manhattan Project. [1] She soon got a teaching job in Los Alamos where her and her husband became friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty. [1] She would use her experiences around Los Alamos as material in her future books. [6] [7] [8] Smith, in her study of American A-bomb scientists interviewed many Los Alamos scientists who gave blank answers about the nature of the weapon that they were creating. [9]
Smith and her husband moved to Chicago after World War II ended. [1] Smith became the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists assistant editor where she worked for many years. [1] She was a lecturer at Roosevelt College and a dean, assistant dean and scholar at Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. [1] [10] Smith also briefly was a guest columnist in The New York Times in 1983. [11]
Smith wrote books like A Peril and a Hope: The Scientists' Movement in America, 1945–1947 [12] [13] and co edited (with Charles Weiner) [14] Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections [15] with the latter being a collection of letters from J. Robert Oppenheimer between 1922 and 1945. [1] [16] [17] [18] Her book A Peril and a Hope: The Scientist' Movement in America, 1945–1947 was nominated for a National Book Award for Nonfiction in the Science, Philosophy and Religion category. [19] A Peril and a Hope was about the growing negative sentiment of scientists about creating the atomic bomb due to their concerns over the sociopolitical consequences of its usage. [20]
Alice Kimball was married to British metallurgist Cyril Smith. [1] She died on February 6, 2001, at her home in Ellensburg, Washington. [10]