William Penney, Baron Penney

The Lord Penney

Born	(1909-06-24)24 June 1909 Gibraltar, British Overseas Territory
Died	3 March 1991(1991-03-03) (aged 81) East Hendred,Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom
Citizenship	British
Nationality	English
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Atomic Weapons Research Establishment U.S. Atomic Energy Commission U.K. Atomic Energy Authority Los Alamos National Laboratory Imperial College London University of Oxford University of Cambridge University of Wisconsin–Madison
Alma mater	Imperial College London University of London
Known for	Britain's nuclear program Proposed the mathematical work to study the damage effects of nuclear weapons during his stay in Manhattan Project Tube Alloys The Kronig-Penney model
Notable awards	Rumford Medal (1966) Wilhelm Exner Medal (1967)

William George Penney, Baron Penney OM KBE FRS FRSE (24 June 1909 – 3 March 1991), was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College. He is acknowledged as having had a leading role in the development of Britain's nuclear programme, a clandestine programme started in 1942 during World War II which produced the first British atomic bomb in 1952.

As the head of the British delegation working in the Manhattan Project, Penney initially carried out calculations to predict the damage effects generated by the blast wave of an atomic bomb. Upon returning home, Penney directed Britain's own nuclear weapons directorate, codename Tube Alloys, and directed scientific research at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment which resulted in the first detonation of a British nuclear bomb, (codename Operation Hurricane) in 1952. After the test, Penney became chief adviser to the newly created British government's United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). He was later chairman of the authority, which he used in international negotiations to control nuclear testing with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.