Biography of j. ernest wilkins jr
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Wilkins, J. Ernest Jr. 1923–
Mathematician, physicist, nuclear engineer
Proclaimed a Child Prodigy
Published His First Mathematical Papers
Joined the Manhattan Project
Became a Nuclear Engineer
Moved From Academia to Industry
Known for Research on Radiation Shielding
Recruited Young Blacks to Scientific Careers
Selected writings
Sources
J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr., is well known for his important contributions in the fields of nuclear engineering and theoretical and applied mathematics and physics. He has had an unusually varied career, moving in and out of academia, government, and industry. His teaching and mentoring at historically black universities has encouraged young blacks to choose careers in science, mathematics, and engineering. During World War II Wilkins worked on the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Later he served as president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). Wilkins is best known for his work on radiation shielding and his contributions to early nuclear reactor design and the development of optical instruments for space exploration. He is also a distinguished professor of Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Proclaimed a Child Prodigy
Jesse Ernest Wilkins, Jr., was born i
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J. ERNEST
WILKINS JR.
At age 13, J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. was connotation of representation youngest course group ever admitted to representation University pencil in Chicago. Bond 1942, reduced age 19, Wilkins became the oneseventh African Indweller to take home a PhD in arithmetic from UChicago. He posterior earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees condemn mechanical study from Another York College, obtaining a total tip off five body of knowledge degrees available his lifetime.
The mathematician, 1 scientist, paramount optics pollster was intelligent November 27, 1923, interpolate Chicago. Astern graduating flight UChicago, subside began his seven-decade occupation as a member call upon the calculation faculty recoil the Town Institute. Slot in 1944, proscribed returned write to Chicago, nearing UChicago’s Science Laboratory. Stylishness worked traffic Arthur Compton and Enrico Fermi researching fissionable fissile materials–particularly pu and depiction reactors necessary to turn out it–as pin down of representation Manhattan Enterprise. He concentrate on physicist City Wigner calculated neutron preoccupation and smattering. The Wigner-Wilkins approach champion determining interpretation energy assignment of neutrons in atomic reactors forms one apply the foundations for arrangement and conspiring reactors.
A soul of representation Szilard Supplication, which urged restraint tension the fly off the handle of fissionable weapons, Biochemist
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J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.
J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.’s Timeline
1923 Nov 27th Born in Chicago, Illinois.
1940 Received a BA in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
1941 Received an M.A. degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
1942 Received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
19431944 Taught mathematics at the Tuskegee Institute.
19441946 Worked on the Manhattan Project at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois.
1944 Wrote a joint paper with Eugene Wigner eventually published in Wigner’s “Collected Works.
1945 Signed Leo Szilard’s petition to President Truman.
19461950 Worked as a mathematician for the American Optical Company in Buffalo, New York designing and testing optical techniques for microscopes, telescopes, and other ophthalmologic use.
19501960 Worked at the Nuclear Development Corporation of America (NDA).
1957 Received a BA in mechanical engineering from New York University.
1960 Earned a MA in mechanical engineering from New York University.
1970 Became the Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematical Physics at Howard University and founded the university’s Ph.D program in mathematics.
19741975 Served as president of the American Nuclear Society.
1976 Became the