Роберт Рэтбун Уилсон: Физик, скульптор и архитектор Фермилаба

American physicist (1914–2000)

Robert Rathbun Wilson (March 4, 1914 – January 16, 2000) was an American physicist known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, as a sculptor, and as an architect of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), where he was the first director from 1967 to 1978. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Wilson received his doctorate under the supervision of Ernest Lawrence for his work on the development of the cyclotron at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. He subsequently went to Princeton University to work with Henry DeWolf Smyth on electromagnetic separation of the isotopes of uranium. In 1943, Wilson and many of his colleagues joined the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, where Wilson became the head of its Cyclotron Group (R 1), and later its Research (R) Division. After the war, Wilson briefly joined the faculty of Harvard University as an associate professor, then went to Cornell University as professor of physics and the director of its new Laboratory of Nuclear Studies. Wilson and his Cornell colleagues constructed four electron synchrotrons. In 1967 he assumed directorship of the National Accelerator Laboratory, subsequently known as Fermilab. He managed to complete the facility on time and under budget, but at the same time made it aesthetically pleasing, with a main administrative building purposely reminiscent of the Beauvais Cathedral, and a restored prairie with a herd of American Bison. He resigned in 1978 in a protest against inadequate government funding.

Robert Rathbun Wilson was born in Frontier, Wyoming, in 1914, the son of Platt Elvin and Edith Elizabeth (Rathbun) Wilson. He had an older sister, Mary Jane. His parents separated when he was eight years old, and custody was awarded to his father, although he lived with his mother from time to time. Much of his early life was spent on cattle ranches. He changed schools frequently, and attended a number of schools, including the Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois, where his grandmother worked. That year he married Jane Inez Scheyer. Wilson ran into trouble with Lawrence's harsh frugality while working on his cyclotron and was fired twice from the Radiation Laboratory. The first time was for losing a rubber seal in the 37 inch cyclotron which prevented its use in a demonstration to a potential donor. He was later rehired at Luis Alvarez's urging, but melted an expensive pair of pliers while welding, and was fired again. Though offered his job back, he decided instead to go to Princeton University to work with Henry DeWolf Smyth. The cyclotron would be used for measurements of the neutron cross section of plutonium. When Oppenheimer reorganized the laboratory in August 1944 to focus on the development of an implosion type nuclear weapon, Wilson became head of R (Research) Division. As such he had four groups reporting to him: the Cyclotron Group (R 1), still headed by himself; the Electrostatic Group (R 2), headed by John H. Williams; the D D (Deuterium Deuterium) Group (R 3), headed by John H. Manley; and the Radioactivity Group (R 4), headed by Emilio G. Segrè. In March 1945, R Division acquired the additional responsibility of developing instrumentation for the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945. Wilson helped stack boxes of explosives for the 100 ton test that preceded it. In May 1945, when Nazi Germany surrendered, and the initial motivation for the crash atomic bomb project dissipated as it was discovered that the German nuclear energy project was years behind, Wilson raised the question of whether they should continue with their work. News of this met with an icy reception from Major General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project. In later life, when interviewed in the Oscar nominated documentary The Day After Trinity (1980), Wilson would say that he should have strongly considered ceasing work on the bomb after the surrender of Germany, and regretted not doing so to some extent. Richard Feynman recalled seeing Wilson sitting and moping on the morning right after the Trinity test as everyone celebrated and had parties. When asked why, Wilson told Feynman, "It's a terrible thing that we made." After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Wilson helped organize the Association of Los Alamos Scientists (ALAS), which called, with a scientists' petition, for the international control of atomic energy. The petition was carried by Oppenheimer to Washington, D. C., eventually making its way via Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to President Harry S. Truman.

After the war, Wilson also helped form the Federation of American Scientists and served as its chairman in 1946. He accepted an appointment as an associate professor at Harvard, but spent the first eight months of 1946 at Berkeley designing a new 150 MeV cyclotron for Harvard to replace the one taken to Los Alamos. At Harvard, Wilson published a seminal paper, "Radiological Use of Fast Protons", which founded the field of proton therapy.

Wilson received many awards and honors, including the Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1964, the National Medal of Science in 1973, and the Department of Energy's Enrico Fermi Award in 1984. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and was president of the American Physical Society in 1985. In 1986, Wilson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Wilson suffered a stroke in 1999, from which he never recovered. He died on January 16, 2000, at the age of 85, at a nursing home in Ithaca, New York, and was buried at the 19th century Pioneer Cemetery (established 1839) on the Fermilab site on Batavia Road near Fermilab Site 39. He was survived by his wife, Jane; his three sons, Daniel, Jonathan and Rand; and his sister, Mary Jane Greenhill.