Background
Lawrence Randolph Hafstad was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the son of two Norwegian immigrants.
Lawrence Randolph Hafstad was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the son of two Norwegian immigrants.
He attended the University of Minnesota, graduating in electrical engineering in 1926.
In 1939, he created the first nuclear fission reaction in the United States. He had began working with the Carnegie Institution for Science from 1928. In 1931, he earned the American Association for the Advancement of Science Prize for his research with Merle A. Tuve and Odd Dahl.
He was awarded his Ph.
Doctorate in Physics at Johns Hopkins University in 1933. Between 1935 to 1947, he was a frequent participant at the Washington Conferences on Theoretical Physics sponsored by George Washington University and Carnegie Institute of Washington.
Between 1946-1954, he was a Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University. From 1947-1949, he was director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
During that same period, he was Executive Secretary of the Research and Development Board at the Department of Defense.
From 1949-1955, he served as Director of Reactor Development with the United States Atomic Energy Commission. In 1955, he became a vice president at the General Motors Corporation and was chief of its research laboratories. In 1968, Hafstad was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Honors and Castell, Lutz.
Otfried Ischebeck (2013) Time, Quantum and Information (Springer Science & Business Media) Dahl, Per F. (2002) From Nuclear Transmutation to Nuclear Fission, 1932-1939 (Cyclic Redundancy Check Press) Fernandez, Bernard. Georges Ripka (2012) Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus (Springer Science & Business Media) Mehra, Jagdish (2004) The Conceptual Completion and Extensions of Quantum Mechanics 1932-1941 (Springer Science & Business Media).