24 Facts About Franklin Matthias

Franklin Thompson Matthias was an American civil engineer who directed the construction of the Hanford nuclear site, a key facility of the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Franklin Matthias was area engineer at the Manhattan Project's Hanford site from 1942 to 1945.

Franklin Matthias joined the Aluminum Company of Canada in 1951, and was involved in the construction of its Kemano-Kitimat hydroelectric dam and aluminum smelter project in northern British Columbia and the Chute-des-Passes project in Quebec.

Franklin Matthias was a vice president at Kaiser Engineering from 1960 to 1973.

Franklin Matthias had two older brothers, Harold and Norman, and a younger brother, Carl.

Franklin Matthias grew up in Curtiss, WI and graduated in 1926 from Abbotsford High School.

Franklin Matthias was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi and Scabbard and Blade, and was a national officer of Chi Epsilon from 1931 to 1942.

On 1 August 1933, Franklin Matthias married Reva Baumgarten, a fellow graduate of the University of Wisconsin, who taught speech therapy in schools in Beloit, Wisconsin.

Franklin Matthias left the TVA in 1939, and spent a year working with a contractor on dredging the Tennessee River.

At this point, Matthias had not yet been assigned to the Manhattan Project, whose mission was to build an atomic bomb, but he had worked on some special studies for it, and had worked with its director, Brigadier General Leslie R Groves, Jr.

Franklin Matthias was already Groves's choice for area engineer for the plutonium project.

When he returned from the meeting, Franklin Matthias was met by Groves, who instructed him to take a survey team and find a suitable site.

Franklin Matthias surveyed four sites in California and Washington, and chose the area around Richland, Washington.

Franklin Matthias supervised the construction of 554 buildings, 386 miles of roads, 158 miles of railroad track, three chemical separation plants and the world's first three production-scale nuclear reactors.

In 1942 Franklin Matthias allowed about 30 Wanapum Native Americans to use their winter camp on the Columbia River with access to their customary fishing ground in the middle of the federal reservation, although white farmer families were being moved off it.

The first production batch of uranium slugs were dissolved at the separation plant on 26 December 1944, and in January 1945 Franklin Matthias personally couriered the first batch of plutonium nitrate to Los Angeles, where he handed it over to another courier, who took it to the Los Alamos Laboratory.

Franklin Matthias left the Army in 1946 and went to Brazil as a project manager for the construction for a hydroelectric facility, eventually becoming the Manager of Engineering at Brazilian Traction.

Franklin Matthias retired in 1973 at the age of 65.

Franklin Matthias was a Registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin, California, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and British Columbia.

Franklin Matthias was a member of the Advisory Board of the California Water Resources Association, the Committee on Large Dams, Committee on Construction of Nuclear Facilities, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Franklin Matthias wrote the chapter on "Construction Services" in the Handbook of Heavy Construction.

Franklin Matthias died six week later, on 3 December 1993, at a nursing home in Walnut Creek, California.

Franklin Matthias was survived by his son Michael and younger brother Carl.

Franklin Matthias's papers are in the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware.