University of Birmingham Manhattan Project Atomic Energy Research Establishment Australian National University
Doctoral advisor
Mark Oliphant
Sir Ernest William TittertonCMG FRS FAA (4 March 1916 – 8 February 1990) was a British nuclear physicist.
A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Titterton worked in a research position under Mark Oliphant, who recruited him to work on radar for the British Admiralty during the first part of the Second World War. In 1943, he joined the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, where he helped develop the first atomic bombs. He eventually became one of the laboratory's group leaders. He participated in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1946, where he performed the countdown for both tests. With the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, known as the McMahon Act, all British government employees had to leave. He was the last member of the British Mission to do so, in April 1947.
Returning to England, Titterton joined the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire, heading a group responsible for research with nuclear emulsions and cloud chambers. He investigated ternary fission, a comparatively rare type of nuclear fission in which the nucleus breaks into three pieces instead of two, and the photodisintegration of light nuclei by gamma rays. He was also a consultant to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) at Aldermaston that designed and developed Britain's first nuclear weapons.
In August 1950, Titterton accepted an offer from Oliphant to become the foundation Chair of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Over the next thirty years, Titterton held high positions on various science, defence and nuclear-related committees, institutes and councils in Australia. He helped build up the physics department at ANU through the acquisition of accelerators. As a member of the Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee (AWTSC), Titterton witnessed many of the British nuclear tests at Maralinga. His reputation was tarnished by the McClelland Royal Commission in 1984 and 1985, which accused him of loyalty to Britain instead of Australia. He was a strong public advocate of nuclear power in Australia, arguing that "nuclear power is the cheapest, cleanest and safest method of power production yet devised by man."[1]
^Cite error: The named reference Nuclear Power and the Anti-Nuclear Movement was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Sir Ernest William Titterton CMG FRS FAA (4 March 1916 – 8 February 1990) was a British nuclear physicist. A graduate of the University of Birmingham,...
Titterton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: David Titterton (born 1971), British former professional footballer Ernest William Titterton...
with the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, known as the McMahon Act, and ErnestTitterton, the last British government employee, left Los Alamos on 12 April...
included Niels Bohr, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs, Rudolf Peierls, and ErnestTitterton. More scientists arrived in early 1944. While those assigned to gaseous...
as Geoffrey Taylor, James Tuck, Niels Bohr, William Penney, Frisch, ErnestTitterton, and Klaus Fuchs, who was later revealed to be a spy for the Soviet...
Mission under James Chadwick. The first to arrive were Otto Frisch and ErnestTitterton; later arrivals included Niels Bohr and his son Aage Bohr, and Sir...
Physics, which he headed himself, a Department of Nuclear Physics under ErnestTitterton, a Department of Geophysics under John Jaeger, a Department of Astronomy...
James Tuck, Niels Bohr, Rudolf Peierls, Otto Frisch, Klaus Fuchs and ErnestTitterton. 1944 – April – Emilio Segrè discovers that the spontaneous fission...
Chilton, put forward the names of five scientists: Butement; Martin; ErnestTitterton from the Australian National University in Canberra; Philip Baxter...
attending physics courses taught by them. He worked in the group headed by ErnestTitterton, a member of the British Mission, and became well-acquainted with the...
Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934) 1990 – ErnestTitterton, British Australian nuclear physicist (b. 1916) 1992 – Stanley Armour...
as Geoffrey Taylor, James Tuck, Niels Bohr, William Penney, Frisch, ErnestTitterton and Klaus Fuchs, who was later revealed to be a Soviet spy. As overall...
Maclean, Lord Chamberlain to the Queen (1971–1984) (born 1916) Sir ErnestTitterton, nuclear physicist (born 1916) 10 February – Sir John Arthur Pilcher...
as Geoffrey Taylor, James Tuck, Niels Bohr, William Penney, Frisch, ErnestTitterton and Klaus Fuchs, who was later revealed to be a Soviet spy. As overall...
representative to oversee the atomic tests on behalf of Australia, Sir ErnestTitterton, was in fact an expatriate British person who withheld key information...
later by Penney. The British government invited Martin, Butement and ErnestTitterton, a British nuclear physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project...
Islands the following day. Five members of the AWTSC—Leslie H. Martin, ErnestTitterton, Cecil Eddy, Butement and Dwyer—arrived at Onslow and were flown to...
Geoffrey Taylor, James Tuck, Niels Bohr, William Penney, Otto Frisch, ErnestTitterton and Klaus Fuchs, who was later revealed to be a spy for the Soviet...
working on the university's 37-inch cyclotron, and collaborated with ErnestTitterton from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) in Harwell, Oxfordshire...
close collaborators were William Elmore, William Higinbotham, and ErnestTitterton. Anybody who had an instrumentation problem would come to the group...
Stratton, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge Sir ErnestTitterton, nuclear physicist involved in the development of the atomic bomb (BSc...
Australian Dictionary of Biography. 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2008. Ernest William Titterton 1916–1990, Bright Sparcs, www.asap.unimelb.edu.au Victor Martin...
personality, author of The Psychology of Politics, in Berlin (d. 1997); ErnestTitterton, British physicist, member of the Manhattan Project and Operation Crossroads...
President from 1963-64 of the Electronic Engineering Association Prof Sir ErnestTitterton CMG FRS, Professor of Nuclear Physics from 1950-81 at the Australian...
Antimatter-Matter Studies Sir Mark Oliphant 1950–1963 John Jaeger 1964–1965 Sir ErnestTitterton 1966–1973 Robert Street 1974–1978 John Carver 1978–1992 Erich Weigold...
such as Professor Frank Fenner, Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley and Sir ErnestTitterton and more than 60 other Fellows of the Academy. A number of scientific...
Global Information