Hugh Bradner
| Hugh Bradner | |
|---|---|
Bradner's identification badge photo from Los Alamos
|
|
| Born |
November 5, 1915 Tonopah, Nevada |
| Died | May 5, 2008 (aged 92) San Diego, California pneumonia |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Engineering, physics, and geophysics |
| Institutions | Champion Paper & Fiber Co. (1936–1937) California Institute of Technology (1938–1941) US Naval Ordnance Laboratory (1941–1943) University of Chicago (1943–1943) Los Alamos National Laboratory (1943–1946) University of California, Berkeley (1946–1961) University of California, San Diego (1961–1980) |
| Alma mater | Miami University - A.B. (1937) California Institute of Technology - Ph.D. (1941) |
| Doctoral advisor | William Vermillion Houston |
| Notable awards | Miami University Medal (1960) Sc.D. (Honorary), Miami University (1961) |
Hugh Bradner (November 5, 1915 – May 5, 2008) was an American physicist at the University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving.
A graduate of Ohio's Miami University, he received his doctorate from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, in 1941. He worked at the US Naval Ordnance Laboratory during World War II, where he researched naval mines. In 1943, he was recruited by Robert Oppenheimer to join the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos Laboratory. There, he worked with scientists including Luis Alvarez, John von Neumann and George Kistiakowsky on the development of the high explosives and exploding-bridgewire detonators required by atomic bombs.
After the war, Bradner took a position studying high-energy physics at the University of California, Berkeley, under Luis Alvarez. Bradner investigated the problems encountered by frogmen staying in cold water for long periods of time. He developed a neoprene suit which could trap the water between the body and the neoprene, and thereby keep them warm. He became known as the "father of the wetsuit."
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