Wilfrid B. Mann

1908-2001

Wilfrid Mann received his B.Sc. in math and physics from Imperial College London in 1930 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of London in 1934. His thesis was on the exchange of energy between a platinum surface and gas molecules. He received a D.Sc. from the University of London in 1951. He did graduate research on cyclotron and artificial radioactivity at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1936-38. During his time at Berkeley, Mann discovered the radioisotope gallium-67, which is much used today in nuclear medicine. He did graduate research on electrostatic generators at Imperial College London from 1938-46. Mann was hired by L.S. Taylor to head the Radioactivity Section at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) in 1951.

Notable honors and awards: 

• U.S. Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm, 1948 
• Gold Medal, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1958
• Edward Bennett Rosa Award, National Bureau of Standards, 1977

Other appointments: 

• National Research Council, Canada, 1946-48
• Radioactive Standards Laboratory, British Embassy, Washington, D.C., 1948-51
• Alternate delegate and scientific adviser, United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, 1946-51
• Adjunct professor, chemistry, American University, 1961-69
• Editor, International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 1965-76; editor-in-chief, 1976-88

Research interests: radioactivity standardization; isotope separations; nuclear decay schemes; microcalorimetry; measurements of low levels of ionizing radiation using various instruments including proportional counters