Physicist John Wheeler, Einstein collaborator, dead at 96

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US physicist John Wheeler, one of Albert Einstein's last collaborators who helped build the atomic bomb and gave black holes their name, died at the weekend, his family said. He was 96.

President George W. Bush issued a statement Monday saying that he and First Lady Laura Bush "are saddened by the death of ... one of America's greatest physicists."

"During his distinguished career," Bush added, "Dr. Wheeler collaborated with scientists such as Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr on projects that changed the course of history."

Wheeler, who was involved with the Manhattan project that build the world's first atomic bomb, died April 13 of pneumonia at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey, said his daughter, Alison Wheeler Lahnston.

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