Women of the Manhattan Project: Liane Russell

Liane Russell was a pioneering geneticist at Oak Ridge.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Quick Facts

Significance:

Geneticist and environmental activist

Place of Birth:

Vienna, Austria

Date of Birth:

August 27, 1923

Place of Death:

Oak Ridge, TN

Date of Death:

July 20, 2019

Born Liane Brauch in Vienna, Austria in 1923, she and her family fled to England in 1938 when Nazi Germany annexed her home country. Shortly thereafter they emigrated to the United States. Initially studying writing at Hunter College in New York, Russell was inspired to switch her studies to chemistry in 1943 after working as a research assistant at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine. Russell graduated with an A.B. in Chemistry in 1945 from Hunter College and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1949.  

In 1947, she and her husband William Russell moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where she began work at ORNL and Y-12 studying teratogenesis, damage to developing embryos. Russell’s findings led to regulations regarding x-rays on pregnant women. Her research was primarily conducted on mice; the Y-12 facility where she worked became known as the “Mouse House”.  

Later in life, Russell and her husband became staunch environmental conservationists. In 1966, she formed the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning conservation organization. In 1968, the organization helped pass the Tennessee State Scenic Rivers Act, which helped to protect the nearby Cumberland River.  

Dr. Russell received numerous awards and accolades for her groundbreaking research, including the Enrico Fermi Award in 1994, the Department of Energy’s highest research honor. Dr. Liane B. Russell died on July 20, 2019.