| Sources |
- [S1534] Robert P. Crease. Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946-1972.
http://books.google.com/books?id=DqkCZfx5h_IC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=Dr.+Donald+Hughes+physicist&source=bl&ots=aOmxOSPm2g&sig=T-_Atw4Kw6C5nXJn0xqvGLD3X9A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xhwwUdvEOqTz0gGDjYC4DQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Dr.%20Donald%20Hughes%20physicist&f=false
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 14 Apr 1860, p. 1.
Dr. Donald Hughes, 45, Scientist at BNL, Dies
Upton -- Dr. Donald J. Hughes, 45, an atomic scientist who resided on North Brewster Lane, Bellport, died early Tuesday morning at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Hospital, following a heart attack received on April 5.
Dr. Hughes was a scientist who played a unique role in the development of our knowledge of the atomic building stone called the neutron. His own research opened new avenues toward an understanding of many aspects of the structure of the atomic nucleus. In addition he was a central driving force for the collation and unification of information related to the neutron. By this work he stimulated a tremendous amount of vital new research and was one of the main U.S. scientific ambassadors responsible for fruitful international relationships in the field of neutron physics and nuclear science. Many of his contributions to basic research have led to practical uses and are a major significance for technology of atomic reactors.
Born in Chicago in 1915, Dr. Donald J. Hughes received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1940. His early research was in the field of cosmic rays and he was a member of a cosmic ray expedition in the Andes in 1941. He directed a section on underwater ordance research at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory until 1943, when he joined the atomic bomb project at the University of Chicago. At the end of the war he became director of the Nuclear Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, where he developed, with co-workers, a method of measuring neutron interactions which became the basis of Dr. G. Gamov's famous theory of the origin of the elements and which was also applied to the design of so-called atomic breeder reactors, such as the one in operation at Arco, Idaho.
Dr. Hughes joined Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1949 where he continued to make brilliant contributions to the physics of neutrons. He also organized a group which collected and published all available information on neutron interactions with matter which has become a standard source for scientists and engineers. The first published version of this compilation was one of the important books distributed at the Atoms for Peace Conference in Geneva in 1955.
Dr. Hughes was a member of several international and national scientific committees, including the one which discussed possible contamination of the moon and planets by space rockets and satellites. He made many trips abroad and established relations with Russian scientists in his field of research. He served as lecturer to the U.S. Information Service in Denmark, England, Finland, Germany and Holland. He was a Fulbright professor at Oxford University in 1953-54. Dr. Hughes showed also a deep interest in the broader implications of his science. He was one of the signers of the famous Franck report which hoped to prevent the use of the first atomic bomb and in 1955-56, he was president of the Federation of American Scientists.
He was an excellent teacher and writer. Besides textbooks which have become standard works for scientists, he has written a number of books on his science of a more popular nature. His latest was "The Neutron Story," a paperback intended for high school students and the interested general public.
Dr. Hughes is survived by his wife, the former Valerie Turner, a daughter Terry, aged 3, a son Howard, aged 2 months, and two daughters by a previous marriage, Bonita and Carolyn.
Services will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, at C.W. Rulland Sons Funeral Home, Patchogue, with the Rev. Frederick I. Smith of the Bellport Methodist Church officiating. Interment will be in Oaklawn Cemetery, Brookhaven.
- [S231] Wikepedia, online [http://wikipedia.org ], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Hughes.
Donald J. Hughes (April 2, 1915- April 12, 1960) was an American nuclear physicist, chiefly notable as one of the signers of the Franck Report in June, 1945, recommending that the United States not use the atomic bomb as a weapon to prompt the surrender of Japan in World War II.[1]
Before the war Hughes worked at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory.[2] By June 1945, the U.S. was deciding whether to use an atomic bomb against Japan, and a very few nuclear scientists knew about the weapon's potential. Some, including Hughes, were wary, and wanted to urge thePresident of the United States to choose a different option. Arthur Compton appointed a committee to meet in secret, in all-night sessions in a highly secure environment.[3] This committee included Hughes, and was chaired by James Franck. The final report, largely written by committee-member Eugene Rabinowitch,[3] recommended that the nuclear bomb not be used, and proposed that either a demonstration of the "new weapon" be made before the eyes of representatives of all of the United Nations, on a barren island or desert, or to try to keep the existence of the nuclear bomb secret for as long as possible.[1][4] The advice of the "Franck Report" was not followed, however, and the U.S. dropped nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After the war Hughes went to Brookhaven National Laboratory and formed a group of physicists working on contemporary problems in nuclear science.[2] His work centered on the Neutron. Many publications translated into Russian where in the USSR more copies were printed of his works than in the USA. He also spent one year at Oxford teaching.
Hughes died suddenly in 1960.
- [S10] Oaklawn Cemetery, Hamlet of Brookhaven, Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, NY (includes gravestones and cemetery association records).
- [S136] Ancestry World & Family Trees. Ancestry.com, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/21718481/person/19039145609.
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1915 - 1960 (45 years)
[2, 3] 