Harold Melvin Agnew, a member of the Manhattan Project who was the third director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and a presidential science adviser, succumbed to chronic lymphocytic leukemia on 29 September 2013 at his home in Solana Beach, California.Agnew was born on 28 March 1921 in Denver, Colorado. He won a scholarship to the University of Denver, where he studied chemistry, was a lifeguard, and met his future wife, Beverly, who later served as a secretary to J. Robert Oppenheimer.Harold Melvin AgnewLOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY ARCHIVESPPT|High resolutionAfter receiving his undergraduate degree in chemistry in mid 1942, Agnew was recruited for the Manhattan Project. In his new role, he helped build the world’s first nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago under the direction of his mentor, Enrico Fermi. On 2 December 1942, Agnew was a witness to the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.Soon after, both Agnew and Fermi joined the staff at Los Alamos. Among other contributions, Agnew helped design the diagnostic canisters that would be used to measure the yield of the atomic strikes against Japan. He witnessed the attack on Hiroshima and, on his own initiative, filmed the detonation. Later in his life, Agnew regularly gave lectures and interviews and never had any regrets about the use of the atomic bombs. He felt that the use of nuclear weapons was imperative to end the war as soon as possible and to stop the carnage that was taking place.After World War II ended, Agnew went back to the University of Chicago to complete his MS and PhD in physics under Fermi. He finished his thesis, “The beta spectra of Cs137, Y91, Chlorine147, Ru106, Sm151, P32, Tm170,” in 1949 and upon graduating returned to Los Alamos, where he performed nuclear-physics research. He quickly concluded that he could contribute more to the nuclear weapons program in the areas of design and development.Agnew made significant contributions to the physics understanding of the first thermonuclear device, which was successfully tested in November 1952 at Enewetak Atoll. He went on to become a leader of major tests of next-generation devices that were fired in Operation Castle in 1954.By the early 1960s, his talents were well known in the defense community. He was invited to be the scientific adviser to two successive commanders of NATO.After returning to Los Alamos in 1964, Agnew increased substantially the laboratory’s interactions with the Department of Defense. In addition, he successfully developed a wide range of contacts from among the diplomatic and military rosters of the NATO allies.During his time as a NATO adviser, Agnew recognized the need for enhanced nuclear weapons security. Ultimately, he led the Los Alamos effort to develop the permissive action link. A joint project with Sandia National Laboratories, PAL technology ensures that nuclear weapons cannot be detonated without proper authorization. For decades, PALs have been a standard feature on US nuclear weapons.By the time Norris Bradbury, the second director of Los Alamos, stepped down in 1970, Agnew was clearly a leading nuclear weapons authority in the free world. As long as Los Alamos held a major role in nuclear weapons, he was the obvious choice to lead the laboratory into the future.Agnew served as director of Los Alamos for almost a decade and brought into fruition optimum weapons for the deterrent posture that had developed during the 1960s. He also introduced technical diversity to the lab. Until Agnew became director, virtually every program was tied, directly or indirectly, to weapons work. The multidisciplinary laboratory of today was created by Agnew in the 1970s.After retiring as Los Alamos director in 1979, Agnew became president and CEO of General Atomics. In that position, which he held until 1985, he pushed for the development of safe reactor technologies and was a vocal advocate for nuclear power. Throughout the 1980s he also was a presidential science adviser to Ronald Reagan.Agnew liked to say that the US nuclear deterrent was his legacy. That is an assessment in which we wholeheartedly concur. No other individual held so much responsibility over so many decades for the creation of the stockpile. Through his contributions as a nuclear scientist and adviser, Agnew charted a path that has ultimately contributed to a more stable and sustainable world.© 2014 American Institute of Physics.
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May 10, 2021
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