Torsten Magnusson

Torsten Karl Adolf Magnusson (24 December 1907 – 24 November 1987) was a Swedish physicist and defense research scientists. Magnusson was Director-General of the Swedish National Defence Research Institute (FOA) from 1968 to 1974 and was one of the prominent figures of the Swedish nuclear weapons program.

Early life Magnusson was born on 24 December 1907 in in Linköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden, the son of Carl Magnusson, a station master, and his wife Signe (née Samuelsson). He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (fil.kand.) from Uppsala University in 1929, Master of Philosophy (fil.mag.) in 1932, Licentiate of Philosophy (fil.lic.) in 1936 and Doctor of Philosophy (fil.dr.) in 1938 with a dissertation on X-ray spectroscopy. He was administrative director from 1941 to 1944 and prefect from 1944 to 1945 at the Military Physics Institute. The institute became the National Defence Research Institute (FOA) in 1945 with Magnusson as head of the department (FOA 2; general physics 1945–58 and FOA 4; nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry 1958–68 ) from 1945 to 1968. In 1945, Magnusson was given the task by the board of FOA to investigate what was known about the nuclear device that was recently dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the start of the Swedish nuclear research.

Magnusson became Director-General of FOA in 1968, a position he held until 1974. Magnusson was a member of the Swedish National Committee for Physics (Svenska nationalkommittén för fysik) from 1946 to 1970

Awards and decorations

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1949) Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (1957) Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1971)