Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Joan E. Curran

PhysicistUniversity of California, Berkeley

Britain
Manhattan Project VeteranScientistSpouse to Manhattan Project WorkerWoman Scientist
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Joan Elizabeth Curran (1916-1999) was a Welsh physicist.

Curran was born in Swansea, Wales. During World War II, she worked on Operation Windows, where she invented the “chaff,” a technique which could disrupt enemy radar. Together with her husband, physicist Samuel Curran, she also worked on the proximity fuse that would prove vital in the destruction of German V-1 rockets.

In 1944, Curran went to work on the Manhattan Project at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California. During her time there, she worked on the electromagnetic isotope separation process.

Joan Curran died on February 10, 1999, in Glasgow, Scotland.

 
Joan E. Curran's Timeline
1916 Feb 26th Born in Swansea, Wales.
19441945 Worked on the Manhattan Project at the University of California at Berkeley.
1999 Feb 10th Died in Glasgow, Scotland.

Related Profiles

Eugene S. Robinson

Los Alamos, NM

Eugene Robinson was a staff worker at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

Royal A. Johnson

Los Alamos, NM

Robert E. Pechan

Los Alamos, NM

J. T. Deegan

Oak Ridge, TN

J. T. Deegan worked for the Combustion Engineering Company.