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Bradner (Hugh) Papers
SMC 0016
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Hugh Bradner Papers
Creator:
Bradner, Hugh, 1915-2008
Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0016
Physical Description:
17.5 Linear feet
(16 cartons and 3 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1935-1998
Abstract: Papers of physicist Hugh Bradner, including his correspondence, research files, teaching material and writings.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of physicist Hugh Bradner, including his correspondence, research files, teaching material and writings. Subjects of
note include high energy physics, ocean-bottom seismology, DUMAND and the history of the wet suit.
Arranged in nine series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILES, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) SUBJECT FILES, 4) GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS, 5) PROJECTS
AND RESEARCH, 6) DEEP UNDERWATER MUON AND NEUTRINO DETECTOR PROJECT (DUMAND), 7) DIVING, 8) WRITINGS, COURSE MATERIALS AND
NOTES and 9) PHOTOGRAPHS AND SLIDES.
Hugh Bradner (1915-2008) was a physicist who worked for the Manhattan Project and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
before joining the SIO Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) as a geophysicist. He received his B.A. from Miami
University in 1937 and graduated from Caltech with a Ph.D. in Physics in 1941.
Bradner worked as a researcher for the Naval Ordnance Laboratory between 1941 and 1943 studying the design of magnetic naval
mines. He was then recruited by Robert Oppenheimer to work on the development of explosive detonators for the Manhattan Project
at the Los Alamos National Laboratory until 1946. After World War II, he accepted a position at the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory where he studied high-energy accelerators, nuclear particles detectors and high-energy particular physics from
1946 to 1961. During this time he was responsible for developing and directing data reduction systems for hydrogen bubble
chambers, pioneered proton-neutron polarization experiments, and was one of the first scientists to observe the catalysis
of a muon-catalyzed fusion. In 1951 Bradner served as co-director for the Operation Greenhouse nuclear test series on the
islands of the Enewetak Atoll.
During his tenure at the University of California, Bradner experimented with early wet suit design. He was particularly concerned
with the discomfort and unreliability of existing "dry suits" fabricated from heavy rubberized cloth, under which divers had
to wear woolen undergarments to keep warm. Seeking to improve the diving attire of Navy frogmen, Bradner devoted his free
time in the spring of 1951 to research on existing wet suit models. After testing various materials, he sent his concept designs
to fellow Berkeley physicist Lauriston C. Marshall, who was involved with the National Research Council Panel on Underwater
Swimmers. Bradner contended that wet suits need not be watertight "dry suits" if insulation were adequately achieved by the
thermal qualities of unicellular material; furthermore, the use of unicellular foam rubber afforded divers increased protection
from underwater shock waves. Collaborating with a group of engineers from the University of California, Berkeley, Bradner
became the first person to use neoprene in the creation of wet suits. However, he did not pursue commercial manufacture and
the U.S. Navy ultimately rejected his design in 1957, citing existing experiments using unicellular material for the application
of diving "underwear."
In 1961 Bradner accepted a position at UC San Diego, where he lectured as Professor of Engineering Physics and Geophysics
and worked as Research Physicist for the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP). His research interests included
ocean-bottom seismology, high energy fundamental particle physics and neutrino physics. Bradner also served as member of the
Deep Muon and Neutrino Detection (DUMAND) Steering Committee, which oversaw a proposed deep ocean astronomy project to install
an underwater neutrino telescope in the Pacific Ocean in the late 1970s. Bradner retired in 1980.
Hugh Bradner Papers. SMC 16. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1982, 1987, 2001.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Selected photographs from this collection have been digitized and can be viewed through links in the container list, or by
searching on the term "Hugh Bradner Papers" on the UC San Diego Library Digital Collections website.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Diving suits
Seismology Research
Ocean bottom -- Research
Particles (Nuclear physics) -- Research
Bradner, Hugh, 1915-2008 -- Archives
DUMAND (Project) -- Archives