Walter Zinn

Physicist

Birthday December 10, 1906

Birth Sign Sagittarius

Birthplace Kitchener, Canada

DEATH DATE Feb 14, 2000 (93)

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About

American nuclear physicist who is known as the first director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1946 to 1956. He worked at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory during World War II, and supervised the construction of Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor.

Before Fame

He graduated from Queen's University in 1930 and enrolled at Columbia University that same year. 

Trivia

He designed and built several new reactors, including Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the first nuclear reactor to produce electric power in December 1951. He later moved to Florida, where he started a consulting firm, which was involved in the design and construction of pressurized water reactors. 

Family Life

He is the son of John Zinn and Maria Anna Stoskopf. He had an older brother named Albert. His first wife, Jean, died in 1964. In 1996, he married Mary Teresa Pratt became a stepfather to Warren and Robert Johnson.

Associated With

He worked for Enrico Fermi, constructing experimental uranium lattices.