English
scientist who worked at Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1944-45, developing the
US atomic bomb. He also headed the team that constructed Britain's first
atomic bomb and directed its testing programme at the Monte Bello Islands
off Western Australia 1952. He subsequently directed the UK hydrogen bomb
project, tested on Christmas Island 1957, and developed the advanced gas-cooled
nuclear reactor used in some UK power stations.
Penney was born in Sheerness, Kent, and studied at London and Cambridge,
and in the USA at Wisconsin. A mathematician by training, he became an explosives
expert. He was director of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment 1953-59
and chair of the UK Atomic Energy Authority 1964-67. |