William Penney, Baron Penney

The Right Honourable The Lord Penney OM KBE FRS FRSE
Born	William George Penney (1909-06-24)24 June 1909 Gibraltar
Died	3 March 1991(1991-03-03) (aged 81) East Hendred, Oxfordshire, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Imperial College London University of Cambridge University of Wisconsin–Madison University of London
Known for	Britain's nuclear programme damage effects of nuclear weapons Tube Alloys Kronig-Penney model
Awards	Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1946) Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1952) Life peer (1967) Order of Merit (1969) Wilhelm Exner Medal (1967) Rumford Medal (1969) Medal of Freedom (1946) (US)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	Atomic Weapons Research Establishment UK Atomic Energy Authority Los Alamos Laboratory Imperial College London University of Oxford University of Cambridge

William George Penney, Baron Penney, OM, KBE, FRS, FRSE (24 June 1909 – 3 March 1991) was an English mathematician and professor of mathematical physics at the Imperial College London and later the rector of Imperial College London. He had a leading role in the development of High Explosive Research, Britain's clandestine nuclear programme that started in 1942 during the Second World War which produced the first British atomic bomb in 1952.

As the head of the British delegation working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory, Penney initially carried out calculations to predict the damage effects generated by the blast wave of an atomic bomb. Upon returning home, Penney directed the British nuclear weapons directorate, codenamed Tube Alloys and directed scientific research at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment which resulted in the first detonation of a British nuclear bomb in Operation Hurricane in 1952. After the test, Penney became chief advisor to the new United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). He was later chairman of the authority, which he used in international negotiations to control nuclear testing with the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Penney's notable scientific contributions included the mathematics for complex wave dynamics, both in shock and gravity waves, proposing optimisation problems and solutions in hydrodynamics (which plays a major role in materials science and metallurgy.) During his later years, Penney lectured in mathematics and physics; he was the Rector of Imperial College London 1967–1973.