Frederic de Hoffmann

Frederic de Hoffmann (July 8, 1924 – October 4, 1989) was an Austrian-born American nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. He was born in Vienna, Austria and died in San Diego, California. He came to the United States of America in 1941 and graduated from Harvard University in 1945. He also received a master's in 1947 and a doctorate in 1948. He received his PhD from Julian Schwinger in 1948.

Frederic De Hoffmann moved to the General Dynamics Corporation in 1955. This organization's purpose was to manufacture nuclear reactors for energy production, and sell them on the open market. In the late '50s he organized Project Orion, a plan for a spaceship to be propelled by nuclear bombs.

He helped found the University of California's campus in San Diego, the University of California, San Diego.