Condon, E(dward) U(hler) (1902–1974)

US physicist. He was assistant director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atom bomb. He made major contributions to nuclear and solid state physics, and Air Force-sponsored UFO research.

He was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He taught at Princeton 1928–37, then worked at Westinghouse Laboratories 1937–45. While at the National Bureau of Standards 1945–51, he was attacked by Congress for being a ‘weak link’ in atomic security in 1948, but was later vindicated by President Truman.He worked at Corning Glass 1951–54, was a professor at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri 1956–63, then became an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado 1963–70.