Roger Williams (chemist)
Roger Williams was an American industrial chemist and senior executive at E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.. He is best known for directing DuPont's role in the Manhattan Project, overseeing construction and operations at the Hanford Engineer Works, and for receiving the 1955 Perkin Medal, the highest honor in U.S. industrial chemistry.
Early life and education
Roger Williams was born in 1890 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Brown University in 1914 and did graduate work in chemistry at MIT. Shortly thereafter, Williams joined DuPont, beginning a career that would span several decades.Career at DuPont
Williams advanced through DuPont's chemical divisions, including work in explosives, ammonia production, and industrial chemical development. By the early 1940s, he had become assistant general manager of DuPont's Explosives Department and a member of the company's executive committee.Role in the Manhattan Project
During World War II, the U.S. Army selected DuPont to design, build, and operate the plutonium production facilities at the Hanford Engineer Works in Washington State. Williams was appointed to lead this effort, creating the TNX Division within DuPont's Explosives Department to manage the project.He organized TNX into two subdivisions:Technical Division – headed by Crawford Greenewalt, which collaborated with the Metallurgical Laboratory on reactor and plant design.Manufacturing Division – headed by R. Monte Evans, responsible for plant construction and operations.
Williams also directed the design of an air-cooled graphite pilot reactor before scaling up to full production reactors, a decision intended to mitigate corrosion and cooling-system reliability risks. Colleagues later credited his organizational skills and modest leadership style as critical to Hanford's success.