Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Charles C. Lauritsen

PhysicistLos Alamos, NM

Trinity Site
Manhattan Project VeteranScientistTrinity Test Eyewitness
Charles C. Lauritsen

Charles C. Lauritsen was a Danish-born American physicist.

Lauritsen and his wife Sigrid and son Thomas emigrated to the United States in 1916. He received his PhD and became Professor of Physics at Caltech. He became friendly with colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer, who later recruited him for the Manhattan Project. During the war, he developed rocket weapons for the military. 

He was involved in early Manhattan Project discussions on the MAUD Report. He worked at Los Alamos, helping to develop the non-nuclear “pumpkin bombs” used primarily for testing and training purposes. His son Thomas Lauritsen, also a physicist, also worked at Los Alamos on the project. After the war, he continued to teach at Caltech and consult for the government on weapons development. He conducted research on X-ray radiation therapy for cancer patients and helped establish the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory.

Charles C. Lauritsen's Timeline
1892 Apr 4th Born in Holstebro, Denmark.
1916 Emigrated to the US with his family.
1929 Received PhD from Caltech.
1930 Joined the physics department faculty at Caltech.
1945 Worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.
1951 Served as president of the American Physical Society.
1968 Apr 13th Passed away.

Related Profiles

R. M. Batch

Y-12 Plant

R. M. Batch worked for the Tennessee Eastman Corporation at the Y-12 Plant.

Harold H. Smith

Los Alamos, NM

Harold Smith served in the Army at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Ray Stein

Y-12 Plant

A member of the Special Engineer Detachment of the U.S. Army, Ray Stein participated in the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge and was assigned to the Y-12 Plant.

B. A. Lowery

Hanford, WA