Penney, William George (1909–1991)

English scientist who worked at Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1944–45, developing the US atomic bomb. He also headed the team that constructed Britain's first atomic bomb and directed its testing programme at the Monte Bello Islands off Western Australia in 1952. He subsequently directed the UK hydrogen bomb project, tested on Christmas Island in 1957, and developed the advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactor used in some UK power stations.

Penney was born in Sheerness, Kent, and studied at London and Cambridge, and in the USA at Wisconsin. A mathematician by training, he became an explosives expert. He was director of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment 1953–59 and chair of the UK Atomic Energy Authority 1964–67. He was created a KBE in 1952, and Baron in 1967.