• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Site Directory
  • Home
  • Alex’s Lounge
  • P.O.U. Health and Fitness
  • POU Comments of the Week
  • P.O.U. Daily Link Sweep
Pragmatic Obots Unite

Pragmatic Obots Unite

Shooting down firebaggers & teabaggers one truth at a time...

Thursday Open Thread: Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project

April 20, 2017 by pragobots 257 Comments

Ralph Alexander Gardner, hard plastics pioneer and one of the scientists and technicians who worked on the Manhattan Project which developed the atomic bomb, was born December 3, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, son of Vivian and Clarence Gardner.  Gardner developed an early love of chemistry, certain that he wanted to pursue a career in the sciences as early as ninth grade.  He graduated from John Adams High School in Cleveland, Ohio and began college at the Case School of Applied Science in 1939 which later became part of Case Western Reserve University.

Gardner was unimpressed with the school and transferred to the University of California, Berkley before finally graduating from the University of Illinois with a degree in Chemistry in 1943.  He then took a research position at the University of Chicago’s Argonne National laboratory and worked for the next four years on the Manhattan project. He engaged in highly classified plutonium research which was crucial in the development of the atomic bomb.  Gardner was one of the several African-American scientists employed on the Manhattan project.  Others included Lloyd Albert Quarterman, Edward A. Russell, Moddie Taylor, Harold Delaney, Benjamin Scott, J. Ernest Wilkins, and Jaspar Jefferies. George Dewitt Turner, Cecil Goldsburg White, Sydney Oliver Thompson, William Jacob Knox, Robert buy viagra 200mg online Johnson Omohundro, and George Warren Reid, Jr. also participated in various phases of the project.

Even after holding such a prestigious research position in World War II, Gardner was unable to find academic or professional work after the conflict ended. From 1947 to 1949 he worked as a waiter before finding work as a chemist for Standard Oil Company in Cleveland.  He returned to graduate school at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, earning a master’s degree in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1959.

In 1968 Gardner began teaching at Cleveland State University where he worked full-time until 1985.   He later combined part-time teaching with work in the research lab of Molecular Technology Corp., a private firm where he also served as the Vice President of Research and on the board of directors. With a specialization in the development of hard plastics, Gardner-Chavis also worked in the fields of catalysis and molecular technology, topics on which he has published numerous scholarly articles. Gardner is now a Professor emeritus at Cleveland State University, where he continues to research catalysis and molecular technology.

Ralph Gardner added “Chavis” to his surname later in life to honor John Chavis who in 1792 became the first African American to enroll in Princeton University.

*Info courtesy of  http://www.blackpast.org/aah/gardner-chavis-ralph-1922#sthash.sop3xlvV.dpuf*

Filed Under: African Americans, History, Open Thread, Science Tagged With: Ralph Alexander Gardner, Ralph Gardner Chavis, The Manhattan Project, Thursday Open Thread

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

Powered by Disqus

Twitter

Tweets by @PragObots

Recent Posts

  • Friday Open Thread: The Life of Robert Reed Church (Chapter 5)
  • Thursday Open Thread: The Life of Robert Reed Church (Chapter 4)
  • Wednesday Open Thread: The Life of Robert Reed Church (Chapter 3)
  • Tuesday Open Thread: The Life of Robert Reed Church (Chapter 2)
  • Monday Open Thread: The Life of Robert Reed Church (Chapter 1)

Tags

#HTGAWM #TGIT African American History African History Black History Civil Rights Movement Divas Forward Friday Open Thread Funk Grammy Winners Great Bands Hip-Hop How To Get Away With Murder Jazz Kerry Washington Legends Monday Open Thread Motown Records NFL Obama Biden 2012 Olivia Pope Open Thread P.O.U. Sunday Jazz Brunch POU Weekly NFL Picks President Barack H. Obama President Barack Obama President Obama R&B racism Rap Saturday Open Thread Scandal Shondaland Shonda Rhimes slavery Songwriters Soul Sports Sunday Open Thread Thursday Open Thread Tuesday Open Thread Video Viola Davis Wednesday Open Thread

Footer

A-F

  • African American Pundit
  • Afrospear
  • All About Race
  • Angry Black Lady Chronicles
  • AverageBro.com
  • Black Politics on the Web
  • Blacks 4 Barack
  • Blue Wave News
  • Brown Man Thinking Hard
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Democracy Now!
  • Democrats for Progress
  • Eclectablog
  • Extreme Liberal's Blog
  • FactCheck.org
  • Field Negro
  • FiveThirtyEight

G-S

  • GrannyStandingforTruth
  • Hello, Negro
  • Jack & Jill Politics
  • Latino Politico
  • Margaret and Helen
  • Melissa Harris Perry
  • Michelle Obama Watch
  • Mirror On America
  • Momma, here come that woman again!
  • New Black Woman
  • Obama Foodorama
  • Obama for America 2012
  • Positively Barack
  • Raving Black Lunatic
  • Sheryl Kaye's Blog
  • Sojourner's Place
  • Stuff White People Do

T-Z

  • Talking Points Memo
  • The Black Snob Feed
  • The Field
  • The Hill
  • The Mudflats
  • The Obama Diary
  • The only adult in the room
  • The Peoples View
  • The Reid Report
  • The Rude Pundit
  • The Starting Five
  • ThinkProgress
  • This Week in Blackness
  • Tim Wise
  • Uppity Negro Network
  • What About Our Daughters
  • White House Blog
  • Womanist Musings

Copyright © 2025 · Log in