This photograph of the Calutron technicians is one of the most famous photographs from Oak Ridge and Gladys Owens is the technician closest to the camera.

Gladys Owens

Gladys Owens was just 19 years of age when she arrived to work in the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was 1945 and she was to spend 8 months working there as a technician on the Manhattan Project. Gladys would become one of the “Calutron Girls” whose role, though none of them knew it at the time, was key to the building of the first atomic bomb.

Bunsen’s original design.

Peter Desaga

Peter Desaga (1812 – 1879) was an instrument maker from Heidelberg who designed and built the first Bunsen burner.

Matthew working at a lathe

Matthew Broadbent: a bespoke technician

Matthew is a mechanical engineer working in the School of Chemistry building bespoke apparatus. He works with aluminium, steel, Teflon, and bikes, although the latter is (mostly) in his spare time. This is his #TechnicianJourney.

Joseph Clement: engineering technician

Joseph Clement (1779-1844) was a machinist and engineer and the man Charles Babbage approached to build the worlds first computer but confusion over Clement’s status, technician or collaborator, meant the computer was never finished.