Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson (age 95) passed away in his sleep of natural causes March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to join the Manhattan Project, an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
"It was a very intense time because they knew that the German scientists knew the theory and the principles underlying atomic energy," Peterson Jr. said. "During the war, their work was a top priority."
∼Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson, an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material, died March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was 95.
The death was announced by his son, Art Peterson Jr., who said his father died in his sleep of natural causes.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, N.C., to join the Manhattan Project -- an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
On Dec. 2, 1942, the team Peterson worked with achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the west stands in the University of Chicago's football stadium.
Peterson became close friends with Arthur Compton, another Nobel Prize winner, who went by a code name while working on the atomic bomb.
When the Manhattan Project expanded to other sites, including Hanford, Peterson was named the Manhattan Project director of the combined operations for the production of fissionable material, his son said. He made several trips across the county, trying to combine the efforts to produce the bomb as fast as possible family said.
In 1946, Peterson was named chief of the fissionable materials branch of the Atomic Energy Commission. Peterson later became general manager of the Atomic Energy Division of the American Machine and Foundry Co., where under his watch 20 reactors were built around the world.
In 1958, Peterson formed his own consulting firm, AVP Associates, and worked on nuclear power planning and development into his 70s.
Born on Halloween 1912 in Morristown, N.J., Peterson was fascinated by science and radio technology during his childhood. After earning a top science prize in high school, Peterson became a heavyweight college boxer and earned a civil engineering degree from New York University in 1934. Three years later, he received a master degree in the subject from Cornell University.
Wanting to be near his sons in Seattle, Peterson moved to the Madison Park neighborhood in 1994. He and his wife had moved to a Northgate adult family home in 2004. Arthur "Pete" Peterson was 95.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to join the Manhattan Project, an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
"It was a very intense time because they knew that the German scientists knew the theory and the principles underlying atomic energy," Peterson Jr. said. "During the war, their work was a top priority."
∼Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson, an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material, died March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was 95.
The death was announced by his son, Art Peterson Jr., who said his father died in his sleep of natural causes.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, N.C., to join the Manhattan Project -- an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
On Dec. 2, 1942, the team Peterson worked with achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the west stands in the University of Chicago's football stadium.
Peterson became close friends with Arthur Compton, another Nobel Prize winner, who went by a code name while working on the atomic bomb.
When the Manhattan Project expanded to other sites, including Hanford, Peterson was named the Manhattan Project director of the combined operations for the production of fissionable material, his son said. He made several trips across the county, trying to combine the efforts to produce the bomb as fast as possible family said.
In 1946, Peterson was named chief of the fissionable materials branch of the Atomic Energy Commission. Peterson later became general manager of the Atomic Energy Division of the American Machine and Foundry Co., where under his watch 20 reactors were built around the world.
In 1958, Peterson formed his own consulting firm, AVP Associates, and worked on nuclear power planning and development into his 70s.
Born on Halloween 1912 in Morristown, N.J., Peterson was fascinated by science and radio technology during his childhood. After earning a top science prize in high school, Peterson became a heavyweight college boxer and earned a civil engineering degree from New York University in 1934. Three years later, he received a master degree in the subject from Cornell University.
Wanting to be near his sons in Seattle, Peterson moved to the Madison Park neighborhood in 1994. He and his wife had moved to a Northgate adult family home in 2004. Arthur "Pete" Peterson was 95.
Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson (age 95) passed away in his sleep of natural causes March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to join the Manhattan Project, an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
"It was a very intense time because they knew that the German scientists knew the theory and the principles underlying atomic energy," Peterson Jr. said. "During the war, their work was a top priority."
∼Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson, an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material, died March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was 95.
The death was announced by his son, Art Peterson Jr., who said his father died in his sleep of natural causes.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, N.C., to join the Manhattan Project -- an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
On Dec. 2, 1942, the team Peterson worked with achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the west stands in the University of Chicago's football stadium.
Peterson became close friends with Arthur Compton, another Nobel Prize winner, who went by a code name while working on the atomic bomb.
When the Manhattan Project expanded to other sites, including Hanford, Peterson was named the Manhattan Project director of the combined operations for the production of fissionable material, his son said. He made several trips across the county, trying to combine the efforts to produce the bomb as fast as possible family said.
In 1946, Peterson was named chief of the fissionable materials branch of the Atomic Energy Commission. Peterson later became general manager of the Atomic Energy Division of the American Machine and Foundry Co., where under his watch 20 reactors were built around the world.
In 1958, Peterson formed his own consulting firm, AVP Associates, and worked on nuclear power planning and development into his 70s.
Born on Halloween 1912 in Morristown, N.J., Peterson was fascinated by science and radio technology during his childhood. After earning a top science prize in high school, Peterson became a heavyweight college boxer and earned a civil engineering degree from New York University in 1934. Three years later, he received a master degree in the subject from Cornell University.
Wanting to be near his sons in Seattle, Peterson moved to the Madison Park neighborhood in 1994. He and his wife had moved to a Northgate adult family home in 2004. Arthur "Pete" Peterson was 95.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to join the Manhattan Project, an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
"It was a very intense time because they knew that the German scientists knew the theory and the principles underlying atomic energy," Peterson Jr. said. "During the war, their work was a top priority."
∼Arthur V. "Pete" Peterson, an Army area engineer who oversaw building of the first atomic reactor and briefed Gen. Dwight Eisenhower before D-Day on the possibility that Germany had radioactive material, died March 24 at his home in North Seattle. He was 95.
The death was announced by his son, Art Peterson Jr., who said his father died in his sleep of natural causes.
Peterson began his active Army service in June 1941 and started his career in nuclear engineering the following year when the Army transferred him to Fort Bragg, N.C., to join the Manhattan Project -- an Army group assigned by President Franklin Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb.
On Dec. 2, 1942, the team Peterson worked with achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the west stands in the University of Chicago's football stadium.
Peterson became close friends with Arthur Compton, another Nobel Prize winner, who went by a code name while working on the atomic bomb.
When the Manhattan Project expanded to other sites, including Hanford, Peterson was named the Manhattan Project director of the combined operations for the production of fissionable material, his son said. He made several trips across the county, trying to combine the efforts to produce the bomb as fast as possible family said.
In 1946, Peterson was named chief of the fissionable materials branch of the Atomic Energy Commission. Peterson later became general manager of the Atomic Energy Division of the American Machine and Foundry Co., where under his watch 20 reactors were built around the world.
In 1958, Peterson formed his own consulting firm, AVP Associates, and worked on nuclear power planning and development into his 70s.
Born on Halloween 1912 in Morristown, N.J., Peterson was fascinated by science and radio technology during his childhood. After earning a top science prize in high school, Peterson became a heavyweight college boxer and earned a civil engineering degree from New York University in 1934. Three years later, he received a master degree in the subject from Cornell University.
Wanting to be near his sons in Seattle, Peterson moved to the Madison Park neighborhood in 1994. He and his wife had moved to a Northgate adult family home in 2004. Arthur "Pete" Peterson was 95.
Inscription
COL US ARMY WWII
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
