Sir Wallace Akers | |
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Born | Walthamstow, England | 9 September 1888
Died | 1 November 1954 Alton, Hampshire, England | (aged 66)
Nationality | British |
Education | Aldenham School |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Occupation(s) | Chemist and industrialist |
Years active | 1911–53 |
Employer(s) | Brunner Mond Borneo Company Imperial Chemical Industries Tube Alloys |
Known for | Director of the Tube Alloys project |
Sir Wallace Alan Akers CBE FRS (9 September 1888 – 1 November 1954) was a British chemist and industrialist. Beginning his academic career at Oxford he specialized in physical chemistry. During the Second World War, he was the director of the Tube Alloys project, a clandestine programme aiming to research and develop British atomic weapons capabilities, from 1941 to 1945. After the war he was director of research at Imperial Chemical Industries. He also served as a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and the committee that drew up the organisation of what became the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. He died in 1954 at the age of 66.