More on William Fowler

“Manhattan Project astrophysics ” (Physics Today, March 2024, page 34) by Michael Wiescher and Karlheinz Langanke correctly credits William Fowler for his Nobel Prize work on nuclear fusion in stars and for chairing the Project Vista activity at Caltech, but it also states that he “developed ignition systems for nuclear weapons.” I believe they may be thinking of a different Fowler, perhaps Clarence “Max” Fowler, who led high-explosives research at Los Alamos for many years, but not during the Manhattan Project. George Kistiakowsky led the wartime explosives division.

Willie Fowler was a prodigious lecturer. We students of his at Caltech proposed that the unit of lecture material be named the “Willie” in his honor, but that in practice, other lecturers’ output could be measured in milliWillies.