Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

William F. Boudreau

ChemistColumbia University

Manhattan, NYOak Ridge, TN
EngineerManhattan Project VeteranScientist
A cyclotron at Columbia University

William F. Boudreau (1914-2001) worked on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University.

Boudreau was born in Columbus, Ohio. He spent much of his childhood living in Geneva, Switzerland. His father, Frank Boudreau, worked for the Health Division of the League of Nations.

William Boudreau earned an undergraduate degree from Case Institute of Technology and a master’s in chemistry from MIT. In 1943, he joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia University. After World War II, Boudreau and his family settled in Oak Ridge, where he worked as an engineer for Union Carbide. His wife, Eleanor Boudreau, was a nurse at Oak Ridge.

Boudreau later worked for the York Division of the Borg-Warner Corporation before returning to Union Carbide’s Nuclear Division in 1975. He died in Mesa, Arizona on January 2, 2001, at the age of 86.

For more on William F. Boudreau, see this obituary. To watch AHF’s interview with his son-in-law, Gordon Garrett, click here.

William F. Boudreau's Timeline
1914 Born in Columbus, Ohio.
1943 Joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia University.
1946 Moved to Oak Ridge.
1963 Named vice president for the Automotive Compressive Development Department at the York Division of Borg-Warner.
1975 Returned to Oak Ridge and worked in Union Carbide's Nuclear Division.
2001 Jan 2nd Passed away in Mesa, Arizona.

Plaque given to William F. Boudreau for his work on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University.

Related Profiles

H. S. Davis

Hanford, WA

Silas M. Epperson

Tinian Island

Silas M. Epperson served in the 1395th Military Police Company, Aviation.

Viola Carpenter

Hanford, WA

Ronald Mickens

Ronald Mickens is a physicist who currently teaches at Clark Atlanta University. He is a prominent voice in the African American scientific community, and has written several works documenting the feats of previous black physicists, including The African American Presence in Physics, and Edward Bouchet: The First African-American Doctorate.