Nicholas M. Smith, Jr. (physicist)

Nicholas Monroe Smith, Jr. (23 March 1914 – 7 August 2003), nuclear physicist and research consultant. Smith was a nuclear physicist, an expert in the field of nuclear and reactor physics, developer of operations research/computer modeling and computer applications consultant. He had ties to the Manhattan Project at Chicago and Oak Ridge, and worked with Samuel Allison and James Van Allen. Smith was a pioneer in the field of operations research.

Smith was born on 23 March 1914 in Little Rock, Arkansas the son of Nick Monroe Smith and Mary Gossett. He attended the University of Arkansas and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and physics. According to the US Census, in 1940 Smith and his wife Elizabeth resided in Chicago, Illinois. At the University of Chicago he earned a master's and doctoral degrees in physics. He work in the Ryerson Physical Laboratory, At Chicago his advisor was Samuel Allison and graduate studies involved work on Chicago Pile-1, the first controlled nuclear chain reaction by Enrico Fermi. Smith landed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C. and performed research with James Van Allen in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. In addition to Allison, Smith worked with physicist Lester Skaggs to design an aircraft proximity detection system that utilized radio waves to locate and detonate anti-aircraft shells.

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