Former Caltech President and Co-Developer on the Atomic Bomb Robert F. Christy Dies at 96

Former President and Resident California Institute of Technology Physicist Robert F. Christy, an integral contributor to the Manhattan Project that gave birth to the world’s first atomic bomb, has passed away in his Pasadena home Wednesday, October 3, 2012 due to natural causes. Christy was 96.

Christy was drafted by the “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer himself to work with fellow scientists in the creation of the nuclear bomb, where Christy was able to develop the atomic bomb trigger mechanism which also goes by the name the Christy gadget.

Christy also became part of the joint U.S.-Japan Radiation Effects Research Foundation where he visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to investigate the effects of the radiation from where the second atomic bomb was dropped.

Born Robert Frederick Christy in May 14 of 1916 in Vancouver, Canada, Christy took up physics at the University of British Columbia , and from there became a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying under Oppenheimer and eventually completing his studies in 1941.

Christy started theoretical physics at Caltech in 1946. There he continued to serve as faculty chair from 1969 to 1971, became provost and academic vice president from 1970 to 1980, and was designated as University President from 1977-1978. In 1985, Christy received emeritus status.

Christy is survived by his wife I, Juliana Christy-Sackmann, as well as two daughters, two sons from a previously divorced marriage, and five grandchildren.

For more information, visit www.caltech.edu.