Robert Lyster Thornton

Robert Lyster Thornton
Thornton in 1961
Born(1908-11-29)29 November 1908
Died28 September 1985(1985-09-28) (aged 76)
CitizenshipBritain
United States
Alma materMcGill University
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsLawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Washington University in St. Louis
Clinton Engineer Works
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
ThesisThe Stark effect for krypton; Stark intensities in hydrogen and helium (1933)
Doctoral advisorJohn Stuart Foster

Robert Lyster Thornton (29 November 1908 – 28 September 1985) was a British-Canadian-American physicist who worked on the cyclotrons at Ernest Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory in the 1930s. During World War II he assisted with the development of the calutron as part of the Manhattan Project. He returned to Berkeley in 1945 to lead the construction of the 184-inch (470 cm) cyclotron, and spent the rest of his career there.