Nicholas M. Smith Jr.

Nicholas Monroe Smith Jr. (1914 – 2003) was a nuclear physicist and research consultant. Smith was an expert on reactor physics, a developer of operations research/computer modeling, and a computer applications consultant. He had ties to the Manhattan Project at Chicago and Oak Ridge, and worked with Samuel Allison and James Van Allen. Smith was a pioneer in the field of operations research.

Early life and education

Smith was born on March 23, 1914, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of Nick Monroe Smith and Mary Gossett.[1] He attended the University of Arkansas and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and physics. According to the US Census, in 1940 Smith and his wife Elizabeth resided in Chicago, Illinois.[2] At the University of Chicago, he earned a master's and doctoral degrees in physics. He worked in the Ryerson Physical Laboratory,[3] At University of Chicago, his advisor was Samuel Allison and graduate studies involved work on Chicago Pile-1, the first controlled nuclear chain reaction by Enrico Fermi. Smith landed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C., and performed research with James Van Allen in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.[4][5] In addition to Allison, Smith worked with physicist Lester Skaggs to design an aircraft proximity detection system that utilized radio waves to locate and detonate anti-aircraft shells.

Career as a physicist

Following the outbreak of World War II, Smith obtained a position at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.[6] As a civilian scientist, he was assigned to the Army Air Force in England, and planned railway targets for airstrikes in support of D-Day. For this work he was presented with the Medal of Freedom.[6]

After World War II, Smith worked as a physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee from 1946 to 1951.[7][8] He studied and reported on the dangers of radioactive material contamination from nuclear weapons.[9][10]

In 1949, Smith at Oak Ridge conducted a study sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission (A.E.C.)'s Division of Biology and Medicine, and performed calculations to determine the theoretical number of atomic bomb detonations necessary to achieve significant radiation exposure and radioactive material fallout. In 1951 after the Ranger and Greenhouse tests, Smith reassessed the earlier calculations and estimates. He determined that detonation of 100,000 Nagasaki type bombs would be sufficient to achieve the doomsday effect. With this information, the A.E.C.'s staff of the Division of Biology and Medicine concluded this to be extremely remote and dubbed the study as Project GABRIEL.[11][12]

Project GABRIEL

In the AEC, the group responsible for Project GABRIEL was the Division of Biology and Medicine. The Division was charged with maintenance of experimental studies and field studies. The Division was required to collect and analyze data from internal and external sources. In 1949, Smith performed a theoretical analysis of the long term aspects of Project GABRIEL. He reached the conclusion that:

Sr-90 is by far the most hazardous isotope resulting from nuclear detonations, and that the distribution of this isotope over large areas of the earth's surface constitutes the limiting factor in estimating the long-range hazard from the use of a large number of atomic bombs.

In 1952, the RAND Corporation completed a study of Project GABRIEL, and was charged with analyzing the short term characteristics of nuclear fallout.[13][14] The study was dubbed Project AUREOLE.[15]

Operations research

For 20 years, Smith worked at Research Analysis Corporation as leader in the Advanced Research Department, a U.S. Army funded successor to the Operations Research Office.[16][17] The focus of the work was war games simulation and nonlinear computer programming.[18][19] His department produced numerous professional papers, including two Lanchester prize-winning books.[20]

In 1971, Smith founded TELIMIS Corporation, based in Springfield, Virginia, a company that developed applications in computer technology. He went on to work as a consultant and served as chief scientist at the Washington Institute of Technology in Fairfax City, Virginia. Smith died on August 7, 2003, at his home in Lusby, Maryland of metastatic prostate cancer.[6]

Awards and honors

Professional affiliations

Patents
  • Apparatus for observing the conduct of a projectile in a gun.[21]
  • Microwave measuring of projectile speed.[22]

Death

Smith died August 7, 2003.

References
  1. United States, Genealogy Bank Obituaries, 1980–2014. Database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKWY-CK7Y : accessed 21 August 2015), Nicholas Monroe Smith Jr, Tennessee, United States, 12 Aug 2003.
  2. United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWYM-CJT : accessed 21 August 2015), Nicholas M Smith, Ward 5, Chicago, Chicago City, Cook, Illinois, United States. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 2012.
  3. Smith Jr, Nicholas M. (15 September 1939). The Energies Released in the Reactions Li 7 (p, α) He 4 and Li 6 (d, α) He 4, and the Masses of the Light Atoms. Physical Review. 56(6): 548.
  4. Van Allen, James A., & Smith Jr, N. M. (1941). The absolute number of quanta from the bombardment of fluorine with protons. Physical Review. 59(6): 501.
  5. Van Allen, James A., & Smith Jr, N. M. (1941). The Absolute Cross Section for the Photo-Disintegration of Deuterium by 6.2-Mev Quanta. Physical Review. 59(7): 618.
  6. Editor. (9 August 2003). Nicholas Smith Jr. Dies, Nuclear Physicist and Research Consultant. The Washington Post.
  7. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. (July 1954). Report on Project GABRIEL. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Division of Biology and Medicine.
  8. Hacker, Barton C. (1994). Elements of Controversy: The Atomic Energy Commission and Radiation Safety. University of California Press.
  9. Creager, Angela N. H. (2 October 2013). Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine. University of Chicago Press.
  10. Badash, Lawrence. (July 2009). A Nuclear Winter's Tale. MIT Press.
  11. PROJECT GABRIEL. (July 1954). REPORT ON PROJECT GABRIEL. U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. Division of Biology and Medicine. Washington, D.C.
  12. Hewlett, Richard G. & Holl, Jack M. (1989). Atoms for Peace and War, 1953–1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission. University of California Press.
  13. Smith, N.M. (12 November 1949). First revised report of the Project Gabriel. U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. Division of Biology and Medicine. Washington, D.C.
  14. Smith, N.M. (8 November 1951). Gabriel Project. Reopened. U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. Division of Biology and Medicine. Washington, D.C.
  15. Greenfield, N.M., Kellogg, W.W., Krieger, F.J., and Rapp, R.R. (1 July 1954). Transport and early deposition of radioactive debris from atomic explosions, Project Aureole. Rand Corporation. R-265-AEC.
  16. Editor. (1955). Science News. Science Service.
  17. Army Research and Development. (1964). Army Research and Development. Development and Engineering Directorate, U. S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command. Washington, D.C.
  18. Smith, N. M. (1969). A Rationale for Value Analysis of Nuclear War. Research Analysis Corporation. McLean, Virginia.
  19. Shrader, Charles R. (October 2005). History of Operations Research in the United States Army. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF THE ARMY FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH. UNITED STATES ARMY. Washington, D.C.
  20. Editor. (March 1973). Forum. American Society for Cybernetics. Journal of Cybernetics. Transactions of the American Society for Cybernetics. Nicholas M. Smith, Editor. 5(1): 2–4.
  21. Smith Jr., Nicholas M. (4 July 1950). Apparatus for observing the conduct of a projectile in a gun. U.S. Patent No. 2,514,297. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  22. Smith Jr., Nicholas M. (12 October 1954). Microwave measuring of projectile speed. U.S. Patent No. 2,691,761. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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