Wilson, Robert R(athbun) (1914-2000)

US physicist. He was head of the experimental nuclear division that developed the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico (1944-46). Born in Frontier, Wyoming, he was affiliated with Princeton (1940-46) when he took leave to work on the atomic bomb. He continued his research at Cornell (1947-67), then moved to the University of Chicago (1967-80), where he designed the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and became its first director (1967-78). He also taught at Columbia University (1980-83).