Walter Zinn | |
|---|---|
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| Born | December 10, 1906 |
| Died | February 14, 2000 (aged 93) |
| Citizenship | Canadian American |
| Alma mater | Queen's University (BA 1927, MA 1930) Columbia University (Ph.D) (1934) |
| Awards | Atoms for Peace Award (1960) Enrico Fermi Award (1969) Elliott Cresson Medal (1970) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Nuclear physics |
| Institutions | University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory Manhattan Project |
| Thesis | Two-Crystal Study of the Structure and Width of K X-Ray Absorption Limits (1934) |
Walter Henry Zinn (December 10, 1906 – February 14, 2000) was a Canadian-born American nuclear physicist who was 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, which went critical on December 2, 1942, at the University of Chicago. At Argonne he designed and built several new reactors, including Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the first nuclear reactor to produce electric power, which went live on December 20, 1951.