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Baron William Penney OM FRS

William George Penney OM FRS

Born 24 June 1909 Gibralter

Died 3 March 1991 East Hendred, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board plaque

Location: Orchard House, Cat Street, East Hendred

Unveiled:  8 August 2014 by Professor Steven Cowley FRS,
CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority

Obituary in 'The Times' 6 March 1991

Mathematical Physicist, Public Servant, Rector of Imperial College

During World War II he worked on the effects of explosive charges for the Royal Naby, then directed the Tube Alloys project, a codename for research on nuclear weapons. He was the head of the British delegation to the Manhatten project when British Scientists joined the American atomic bomb project at Los Aamos. He watched the Trinity test Detonation and witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki. With Royal Navy engineers he designed and supervised development of the Mulberry Harbours placed on Normandy beaches during the D-Day invasion.

He became chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in 1962. He strove to bring about a ban on nuclear testing and was dissapointed that only a ban on atmospheric testing was acheived in 1963.

He was Rector of Imperial College from 1967 to 1973. In 1987 Imperial Colldge built the William Penney Laboratory in his honour.