21 Facts About Bernard Waldman

Bernard Waldman was an American physicist who flew on the Hiroshima atomic bombing mission as a cameraman during World War II.

Bernard Waldman headed a group that conducted blast measurements for the Trinity nuclear test, and served on Tinian with Project Alberta.

Bernard Waldman was director of the Midwestern Universities Research Association Laboratory from 1960 to 1964, dean of its Notre Dame College of Science at Notre Dame from 1967 to 1979, and associate director of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory from 1979 to 1983.

Bernard Waldman was born in New York City on October 12,1913.

Bernard Waldman attended New York University, from which he received Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

Bernard Waldman's research supported the estimates of J Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Serber.

Bernard Waldman took a leave of absence from Notre Dame and joined Oppenheimer and Serber at the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory in 1943.

Bernard Waldman was assigned to Norman F Ramsey's E-7 Group, which was part of the Ordnance Division responsible for "integration of design and delivery".

Bernard Waldman was the head of Group TR-6 for the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945.

Bernard Waldman developed microphones that were dropped by parachute to measure the effect of the blast.

Bernard Waldman was then assigned to Project Alberta, the part of the Manhattan Project that oversaw the preparation of facilities to test and deploy nuclear weapons, and support their use during the actual missions.

Bernard Waldman was equipped with a special high-speed Fastax movie camera with six seconds of film in order to record the blast.

Sources vary on how it came to be that there is no film of the event, with theories stating that Bernard Waldman forgot to take the lens off of the camera or that the footage was unusable or destroyed due to circumstances outside of his control.

In 1960, Bernard Waldman took a sabbatical from Notre Dame to become director of the Midwestern Universities Research Association Laboratory.

Bernard Waldman set about fixing problems with the 50 MeV accelerator.

Bernard Waldman was appointed dean of Notre Dame's College of Science in 1967.

Bernard Waldman held this position August, 1979, when he retired at the age of 65.

Bernard Waldman then became as associate director of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University, a position he held until 1983.

Bernard Waldman died in a hospital in Sanford, North Carolina, where he was being treated for cancer, on November 1,1986.

Bernard Waldman was survived by his wife, Glenna and three daughters.

Bernard Waldman's papers are in the University of Notre Dame Archives.