Western Union cable notifying Ernest Orlando Lawrence that he had won the Nobel Prize, dated November 11, 1939. Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901-1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Wideroe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project. Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in inventing the cyclotron and developing its applications. After the war, Lawrence campaigned extensively for government sponsorship of large scientific programs. Lawrence was a forceful advocate of Big Science with its requirements for big machines and big money. After his death, the Regents of the University of California voted to rename two of the university's nuclear research sites after Lawrence: the Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. |