doctoral_advisor death_date death_place birth_place citizenship field birth_date known_for image article_title name alma_mater
raymond thayer birge 26 march 1974 boulder , colorado , u.s. alamogordo , new mexico , u.s. united states physics 02 march 1902 radar and nuclear weapons research , target of mccarthyism edward u. condon.jpg edward condon
 edward uhler condon university of california , berkeley
edward condon

edward uhler condon -lrb- march 2 , 1902 -- march 26 , 1974 -rrb- was a distinguished american nuclear physicist , a pioneer in quantum mechanics , and a participant in the development of radar and nuclear weapons during world war ii as part of the manhattan project .
the franck -- condon principle and the slater -- condon rules are named after him .
he was the director of the national bureau of standards -lrb- now nist -rrb- from 1945 to 1951 .
in 1946 , condon was president of the american physical society , and in 1953 was president of the american association for the advancement of science .
during the mccarthy period , when efforts were being made to root out communist sympathizers in the united states , edward condon was a target of the house un-american activities committee on the grounds that he was a ` follower ' of a ` new revolutionary movement ' , quantum mechanics ; condon defended himself with a famous commitment to physics and science .
condon became widely known in 1968 as principal author of the `` condon report '' , an official review funded by the united states air force that concluded that unidentified flying objects -lrb- ufos -rrb- have prosaic explanations .
the lunar crater condon is named for him .
