Sex: Male. Birth: 12 Apr 1922 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Death: 19 Sep 1998 in Roswell, New Mexico
Family: Wife: Janet Irene Rich 1928 - 1997. Marriage: 6 Jun 1949 Chicago, Illinois. Parents: Husband: Edwin Nelson Wade 1882 - 1952.
Wife: Clara Agnes Zercher 1884 - 1951.
Warren Zercher Wade was the tenth child of his family, and as such was raised by his sisters as much by his mother and father. His childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania included memories of sitting with one of his sisters who played the organ at the local silent movie house. He dropped out of high school and took a job as a photographer for the local newspaper. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was clear the draft board would soon be calling, and he and a friend took a hitchhiking trip west. By the time they reached Nebraska they had run out of money. He later claimed to have herded buffalo and worked on Hoover Dam before enlisting in the US Navy in late 1942.
He became a signals specialist in the Navy, learning Morse code and flag signals. He was assigned to a series of freighters, reaching the rank of Petty Officer (for one day, before being busted for being out of uniform because he hadn't bought his new stripes yet). In Bombay, India he fell from the crow's nest of the ship to the steel deck, fracturing his skull. At the same time an Army sergeant went through the windshield of a jeep, sustaining similar injuries. Since it was 'worth it' the military flew in a specialist surgeon from North Africa, who spent the next nine months putting Warren's head back together. He said his appearance was so altered that he later reported back to duty on a ship where he had served earlier, 'yeah, we had a guy with the same name here once, but we heard he was killed in Bombay'.
Following duty that was said to include being part of the fleet at Iwo Jima, Warren was mustered out of service. He took the GED to get his high school equivalency, and enrolled under the GI Bill at Williams and Marshall College, Pennsylvania. Here he was spotted as having potential as a nuclear physicist for the burgeoning US atom bomb program and was put in an accelerated doctoral program at the University of Chicago. After three years there, with the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, he decided he had enough of school and went to work at Argonne National Laboratory.
Before leaving school he had met and married Janet Irene Rich, a waitress at a diner he frequented. Warren continued to work at Argonne until 1955, when he took an opportunity to work at the new Lawrence Radiation Laboratory being created by Edward Teller with the objective of developing new thermonuclear weapons.
At Livermore Warren participated in design and testing, in both the Pacific Ocean and Nevada, of a new generation of atomic warheads. By the early 1960's he was appointed a senior scientist at Livermore, and undertook several research projects. These included using new methods of producing significant amounts of the element americium, and determining its physical characteristics, and developing a prototype system for cheap production of weapons-grade plutonium.
By the late 1960's Warren was working half time as a consultant for the CIA, assessing the nuclear weapons programs of foreign nations and developing methods for determining covert production of atomic bombs. He also became involved in the very earliest and most secret phases of development of Teller's x-ray space-based nuclear-pumped laser - a project that would convince Reagan to go ahead with the 'Star Wars' Strategic Defence Initiative 15 years later.
In 1974 Warren decided to retire from the laboratory, and take up some of his dreams. He tried his hand at writing a novel, but gave up after his manuscript was rejected several times. He dreamed of buying a boat and sailing around the world, but his wife's physical condition seemed to rule that out. He prepared to move to the Caribbean, including selling the house and scouting locations, but finally decided that would not be possible either. After living in a series of apartments in Livermore, Camarillo, and El Cajon, California, he bought a house and moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where he spent his last 13 years. As was true of his father and step-father, he outlived his wife but then died alone in turn within a year of her death.
Unclassified papers:
Higgins, G.H. ; Rawson, D.E. ; Wade, W.Z., Chemical Reactions Induced By Underground Nuclear Explosions, UCRL-5882(Rev.), 1961 Jun 30
Wade, W.Z. ; Wolf, T., The Purification Of Plutonium By Electrolysis Of The Solid Metal, UCRL-14128, 1965 Apr 15
Wade, W.Z. ; Wolf, T., Preparation Of Macro-Amounts Of Pure Americium Metal., UCRL--14513, 1966 Jan 01
Skinner, D.F. Jr. ; Wolf, T.W. ; Wade, W.Z., Port Apparatus For Extracting Materials From Radioactive Enclosures., US 3290502 ., 1966 Jan 01
Wade, W.Z. ; Wolf, T., Preparation And Some Properties Of Americium Metal., UCRL--14513, 1967 Jan 01
Wade, W.Z. ; Wolf, T., Production Of Plutonium Metal By Direct Reduction Of The Oxide., UCRL--50403, 1968 Jan 01
Wade, W.Z. ; Wolf, T., Preparation Of Massive Plutonium Metal Directly From Its Oxides., UCRL--71197(Rev.1), 1969 Jan 01
Wade, W.Z., Self-Diffusion Of Plutonium In A Pu/1 Wt. Percent Ga Alloy., 4019605, 1971 Jan 01
Souers, P.C. ; Hickman, R.G. ; Wade, W.Z. ; et.al., Simple Model Of D$Sub 2$--Dt--T$Sub 2$ Equilibrium At Cryogenic Temperatures, UCRL--51681, 1974 Oct 21
Public Patents: US Patent# 3,290,502, Port Apparatus for Extracting Materials from Radioactive Enclosures, 20 August 1963Change: 10 Dec 2005 Time: 00:00:00.
