Lee DuBridge was the founding director of the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. During World War II the “Rad Lab,” as it was commonly known, advanced and accelerated radar development. Under DuBridge’s leadership, the Rad Lab became the largest war research laboratory, with an annual budget of $13 million, more than 4,000 staff, and industrial contracts worth $1.5 billion. While not officially part of the Manhattan Project, DuBridge was asked by J. Robert Oppenheimer to troubleshoot issues at Los Alamos because of his experience with the Rad Lab. After the war, DuBridge became president of Caltech and served on the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission.
(Photo courtesy of AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, Gallery of Member Society Presidents, Physics Today Collection.)