Nacogdoches in Nacogdoches County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Dr. Joseph William Kennedy, Jr
Photographed by Brian Anderson, October 19, 2025
1. Dr. Joseph William Kennedy, Jr Marker
Inscription.
Dr. Joseph William Kennedy, Jr. was born in Nacogdoches on May 30, 1916 and graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1932 as valedictorian. Kennedy attended Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College and, in 1935, received his B.A. degree in Chemistry with the highest grade point average of any student up to that time. Kennedy graduated from the University of Kansas in 1937 with an M.A. in Chemistry. In 1939, Kennedy received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and joined the faculty as a chemistry instructor., While at U.C. Berkeley, Kennedy and colleagues Arthur Wahl, Glenn Seaborg and Edwin McMillan discovered the element plutonium and developed a method of separating it from other fuel material in a nuclear reactor. Kennedy also designed and built detection instruments, Geiger and proportional counters, ionization chambers and linear amplifiers that were essential to radiochemistry in the early 1940s. Dr. Kennedy began work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory in March 1943 where he developed and tested the atomic bomb. President Harry Truman awarded Dr. Kennedy the Medal of Merit in 1946, the highest military award for a civilian. After his assignment at Los Alamos, Dr. Kennedy was named chairman of the Chemistry Department at Washington University in St. Louis and pioneered hot labs where tracer atoms were studied. Dr. Kennedy died in May 5, 1957 in Laude, Missouri. At the urging of Dr. Kennedy's family, the board of regents renamed the science auditorium at Stephen F. Austin State University the Joseph W. Kennedy Auditorium on January 23, 1971.
Dr. Joseph William Kennedy, Jr. was born in Nacogdoches on May 30, 1916 and graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1932 as valedictorian. Kennedy attended Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College and, in 1935, received his B.A. degree in Chemistry with the highest grade point average of any student up to that time. Kennedy graduated from the University of Kansas in 1937 with an M.A. in Chemistry. In 1939, Kennedy received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and joined the faculty as a chemistry instructor.
While at U.C. Berkeley, Kennedy and colleagues Arthur Wahl, Glenn Seaborg and Edwin McMillan discovered the element plutonium and developed a method of separating it from other fuel material in a nuclear reactor. Kennedy also designed and built detection instruments, Geiger and proportional counters, ionization chambers and linear amplifiers that were essential to radiochemistry in the early 1940s. Dr. Kennedy began work on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory in March 1943 where he developed and tested the atomic bomb. President Harry Truman awarded Dr. Kennedy the Medal of Merit in
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1946, the highest military award for a civilian. After his assignment at Los Alamos, Dr. Kennedy was named chairman of the Chemistry Department at Washington University in St. Louis and pioneered hot labs where tracer atoms were studied. Dr. Kennedy died in May 5, 1957 in Laude, Missouri. At the urging of Dr. Kennedy's family, the board of regents renamed the science auditorium at Stephen F. Austin State University the Joseph W. Kennedy Auditorium on January 23, 1971.
Erected 2012 by Texas Historical Commission. (Marker Number 17343.)
Location. 31° 37.229′ N, 94° 38.956′ W. Marker is in Nacogdoches, Texas, in Nacogdoches County. It can be reached from Alumni Drive. Marker is located in front of the Lehmann Chemistry Building on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1918 Alumni Drive, Nacogdoches TX 75965, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American South, specifically
Photographed by Brian Anderson, October 19, 2025
2. Dr. Joseph William Kennedy, Jr Marker
in the Deep South, and in the Piney Woods. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Republic of Texas, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 21, 2025. It was originally submitted on October 21, 2025, by Brian Anderson of New Albany, Ohio. This page has been viewed 93 times since then and 50 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 21, 2025, by Brian Anderson of New Albany, Ohio.
