William Penney, Baron Penney
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William George Penney, Baron Penney, was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College London. He had a leading role in the development of High Explosive Research, Britain's clandestine nuclear programme that started in 1942 during the Second World War which produced the first British atomic bomb in 1952.
William Penney, Baron Penney
Penney's ID badge photo from Los Alamos National Laboratory of the United States.
Project Alberta. Penney is in the second row from the front, third from the left
Penney (right) watches the Operation Hurricane nuclear test after the initial flash. With him is Rear Admiral Arthur David Torlesse, the task force commander.
High Explosive Research
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High Explosive Research (HER) was the British project to develop atomic bombs independently after the Second World War. This decision was taken by a cabinet sub-committee on 8 January 1947, in response to apprehension of an American return to isolationism, fears that Britain might lose its great power status, and the actions by the United States to withdraw unilaterally from sharing of nuclear technology under the 1943 Quebec Agreement. The decision was publicly announced in the House of Commons on 12 May 1948.
The UK's first nuclear test, Operation Hurricane, in Australia on 3 October 1952
Sir John Anderson, the minister responsible for Tube Alloys
James Chadwick (left), head of the British Mission, with Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project
Lord Portal, Controller of Production, Atomic Energy