Crawford Greenewalt (1902-1993) was an American chemical engineer.
When the DuPont Company signed on to the Manhattan Project in late 1942, Greenewalt was sent to investigate the project. In Chicago, he witnessed Enrico Fermi’s first chain reaction. Just two weeks later he was assigned to be the liaison between the physicists at the Chicago Met Lab and the engineers at Wilmington, Delaware. The challenge was to translate the scientists’ theoretical ideas into workable blueprints for the production of plutonium on a massive scale at the B Reactor being built in Hanford, WA.
When the B Reactor unexpectedly shut down shortly after starting up on September 26, 1944, Greenewalt stayed at the reactor until 2 o’clock in the morning working on solving the mystery. It was xenon poisoning.
Greenewalt was legendary for the skill he showed in managing and entertaining debates and for concluding them decisively. Intelligent, energetic and dedicated, Greenewalt is a sterling example of why the Manhattan Project succeeded.