24 Facts About Hugh Bradner

Hugh Bradner was an American physicist at the University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and surfing.

Hugh Bradner worked at the US Naval Ordnance Laboratory during World War II, where he researched naval mines.

Hugh Bradner investigated the problems encountered by frogmen staying in cold water for long periods of time.

Hugh Bradner developed a neoprene suit which could trap the water between the body and the neoprene, and thereby keep them warm.

Hugh Bradner worked on the 1951 Operation Greenhouse nuclear test series on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Hugh Bradner joined the Scripps Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics as a geophysicist in 1961.

Hugh Bradner remained there for the rest of his career, becoming a full professor in 1963, and retiring in 1980.

Hugh Bradner was born in Tonopah, Nevada, on November 5,1915, but he was raised in Findlay, Ohio.

Hugh Bradner graduated from Ohio's Miami University in 1936 and later received his doctorate from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, in 1941, writing his thesis on "Electron-optical studies of the photoelectric effect" under the supervision of William Vermillion Houston.

Hugh Bradner was recruited by Robert Oppenheimer to join the Manhattan Project in 1943 at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, which helped to develop the first atomic bomb.

Hugh Bradner helped to develop a wide range of technology needed for the bomb, including research on the high explosives and exploding-bridgewire detonators needed to implode the atomic bomb, developed the bomb's triggering mechanism, and even helped design the new town around the laboratory.

Hugh Bradner worked closely with some of the most prominent scientists including Luis Alvarez, John von Neumann and George Kistiakowsky.

Hugh Bradner witnessed the Trinity test, the first nuclear weapons test, at Alamogordo on July 16,1945.

Hugh Bradner met his future wife, Marjorie Hall Hugh Bradner, who was working as a secretary on the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos Laboratory.

Hugh Bradner worked on the 1951 atomic bombing test on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which was part of the Operation Greenhouse nuclear test series.

Hugh Bradner had previously talked to United States Navy frogmen during World War II concerning the problems of staying in cold water for long periods of time, which causes the diver to lose large amounts of body heat quickly.

Hugh Bradner worked on developing a new suit that would counter this in the basement of his family's home on Scenic Avenue in Berkeley, California, and researched the new wetsuit at a conference in Coronado, California, in December 1951.

Hugh Bradner found that it "would trap the water between the body and the neoprene, and the water would heat up to body temperature and keep you warm".

Hugh Bradner applied for a US patent for the wetsuit, but his patent application was turned down due to its similar design with the flight suit.

In 2005 the Los Angeles Times concluded that Hugh Bradner was the "father of the wetsuit", and a research paper published by Carolyn Rainey at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1998 provided corroborating evidence.

Hugh Bradner joined the Scripps Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics as a geophysicist in 1961.

Hugh Bradner became a full professor in 1963 and retired in 1980.

Hugh Bradner remained interested in oceanography, scuba diving, seashell collecting and the outdoors throughout his later years, and continued to work both on oceanographic research, as well as on the DUMAND deep ocean neutrino astronomy project, which combined his two careers in physics and oceanography.

Hugh Bradner died at the age of 92 at his home in San Diego, California, on May 5,2008, from complications of pneumonia.