Robert Bacher

Born on 31 August 1905 in Loudonville, Ohio, nuclear physicist Robert Bacher was one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project. He grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended the University of Michigan, earning his PhD in 1930. After graduate work at Caltech and MIT, he briefly taught at Michigan and Columbia University before accepting a position at Cornell University in 1935. In 1940, with World War II looming, Bacher went to MIT’s Radiation Laboratory to work on radar for the war effort. Three years later he joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, where he headed the experimental physics division and then the bomb physics division. After the war, Bacher served on a number of top government committees and panels, including President Eisenhower’s Science Advisory Committee and the newly formed US Atomic Energy Commission. In 1949 he returned to academia, accepting a position as chair of the physics, mathematics, and astronomy division at Caltech, where we he would remain for the rest of his career. Over the years, Bacher worked hard to establish Caltech’s reputation in physics and astronomy, bringing on board a number of talented physicists, including future Nobel laureates Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann. In 1962 Bacher became Caltech’s first provost, a position he held until 1970. Bacher also served as president of the American Physical Society (1964–65), chair of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (1969–72), and chair of the Universities Research Association (1970–73). In 1976 he attained professor emeritus status at Caltech. Bacher died at age 99 in 2004; you can read the Physics Today obituary . (Photo credit: Harvey of Pasadena, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives)

Date in History: 31 August 1905