Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Verna Hobson

Verna Hobson (1923-2004) was an American secretary.

After moving to Princeton, NJ with her husband Wilder, Verna Hobson soon became a secretary for J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. Her tenure as his secretary coincided with Oppenheimer’s investigation by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC.) 

During this period she became close with the Oppenheimer family, most notable with Oppenheimer’s son Peter, to whom Hobson was a “surrogate mother.”