science · 26 March 1974 · 50 years ago
death
Died 26 Mar 1974 at age 72 (born 2 Mar 1902).
Edward Uhler Condon was an American physicist who is remembered for the Franck-Condon principle (1928), development of radar and contributing to the design of magnetic separation equipment subsequently applied to process uranium for atomic bombs. The Franck-Condon principle (1928) is a quantum-mechanical treatment of the earlier statement by James Franck (1925) that in any molecular system the transition from one energy state to another occurs so near to instantaneously that the nuclei of the atoms involved are stationary. During the Manhattan project, he assisted J. Robert Oppenheimer assemble the team of scientist that created the first atomic bombs at Los Alamos, N.M. He led a scientific study of UFO's, which found no credible evidence.