Robert Cornog; Atomic Physicist, Engineer

Robert Alden Cornog, physicist and engineer who helped develop the atomic bomb and missile systems from the Snark to the Minuteman, has died. He was 80.

Cornog, a technical advisor on the film “Fat Man and Little Boy,” about the atomic bomb, died July 17 in Santa Monica of pneumonia, his daughter, Ann Tidwell, said Friday.

A native of Portland, Ore., who grew up in Iowa City, Cornog earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Iowa. After working for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Boulder Dam design, he studied at UC Berkeley for his doctorate in physics.

His graduate student research led to the co-discovery, with Luis Alvarez, of hydrogen and helium of atomic mass 3.

During World War II, Cornog designed magnetic equipment for ships and went to work on the Manhattan Project, successively at UC Berkeley, Princeton University and in Los Alamos, N.M. Cornog became chief engineer of the ordnance division of the atomic bomb development team.

In the 1950s, he focused on aerodynamics, nuclear energy and rocket engineering, working on missile systems for several Southern California companies--including Northrop, Space Technology Laboratories and Ramo-Wooldridge Corp., which became TRW. Also an expert on vacuum technology, Cornog headed Vacuum Enterprises from 1967 to 1974 and managed product development for Torr Vacuum Products until 1984. He held several patents.

Envisioning peaceful uses for nuclear and space technology, Cornog in 1959 foresaw a world in 40 to 50 years with worldwide color television broadcasts, satellites assembled in space and accurate weather prediction.

Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, a friend, dedicated his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” to Cornog.

In addition to Tidwell, Cornog is survived by his wife, Connie Lemke, whom he married in February; a son, David; a sister, Grace Beardsley, and one grandchild.