J. Leonard Johnson
Encyclopedia
James Leonard Vincent "Len" Johnson (1905–1966) was an American
scientist.
"Len" Johnson was an American engineer, designer, and scientist in the mid-twentieth century in the field of metallurgy
and nuclear technology. He was one of the first Irish Catholics to break into the exclusive field of design engineering for the Department of Defense.
Len Johnson was born in Freeland
, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
in 1905. Though from an Irish family, Len was actually the 4th generation in the US. His great grandfather had immigrated from Moneyneana, County Londonderry
, Ulster
, Ireland
in 1839, prior to the great Irish Famine. However, his roots in Pennsylvania and in America went back to the early 1700s.
The first member of his family to come to America was, Sir William Johnson (McShane
) who originally came to the colony of New York
in 1720. He managed his uncles properties and eventually created his own estate called Johnstown (town), New York
. William rose to prominence in the French and Indian War
as the Commissioner of the Iroquois tribe. He created and led an army of Indian and settler soldiers at various battles rising to the rank of Major General
in the British army in America. The Battle of Lake George
in 1755 earned him a baronet
title and his capture of Fort Niagara
with his Indian troops defeating the French army made him, "Johnson of New York". It is still an active baronetcy within the family. His grandmother was Ada "Mary" Wilson. Her family had been originally come to the US in the 1750s as Quakers outside Philadelphia. Len had an early grandfather, Captain Joseph Greene, who commanded the Northumberland County Ranger
company at the close of the American Revolution in 1782, and had served in the York County militia from as early as 1777. Through his grandmother he was also a close cousin to President Woodrow Wilson
.
His grandfather John was a collier engineer in Freeland, Pennsylvania, and his uncle, Captain Patrick Johnson, was an officer in the 116th Infantry Regiment of Pennsylvania, of the Irish Brigade
and had fought at the Wheatfield at Gettysburg
. Both were regionally famous musicians. His father, John Joseph "Jack" Johnson was the first Irish boss of the huge Cox Coal Company. It is estimated that Jack Johnson directed over 1000 workers on a day to day basis spanning six major installations to include a railroad. As a young man he was selected to be the first Irish boss and was educated by the company. After his formal education he was placed in charge of the entire field. That position allowed his son, Len, to enter into the prestigious Mining and Mechanical Institute (now MMI Preparatory School
) from which he was graduated in 1922.
From there, Len became the first of his family to attend college. He chose to attend Pennsylvania State College (now University) and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1926. What to do after graduation proved to be a difficult decision to make in that he was offered a job with the professional baseball team system, the St. Louis Browns. He was a particularly good 2nd baseman and was playing semi-professional
baseball at the time for the Allentown Dukes. However, he chose to go into engineering full time, returning to the coal fields and went to work for Bethlehem Steel
company through the 1920s. Len's work with new casting designs brought him greater attention and was eventually notice by U.S. Steel
. In the 1930s he was hired and went to work for a US Steel affliliate, the National Tube works in Lorain, Ohio
and then to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, where he became the General Manager of the entire plant. While there he wrote numerous articles on the advancements of steel use in the defense industry. He stayed until the late 1930s when he rose to become a designer of new steel products, leading the transition away from casting to the use of rolled steel.
. Len went into the steel weapons design department and was on the team that first issued the patent for the rolled steel artillery shell, replacing those that were cast iron
. This advancement increased the effective range of artillery shrapnel out to a bursting radius of fifty meters. Another design patent he made was the aluminum fuel blivet
that would roll behind a jeep. Both designs are still used by the military today in some shape or form. It was due to his extensive work in metallurgical uses for the battlefield that brought Len to the attention of the OSS
. In 1945, as the Chief Research Engineer for National Tube Company, he wrote the headlining article for the Yearbook of American Iron and Steel Institute. The article was titled "The Witter Process for the Manufacture of Shell Forgings and the Spinning Process for the Manufacture of Bombs". This article captured the sea-change the Steel Industry made in moving away from cast iron shells and into milled steel weapons.
He was brought into the Manhattan Project
in the early 1940s and given a team whose job it was to develop two separate metallic imploding bomb casings. These two designs were later named "Fatman
" and "Little Boy
". As was common at that time, each cell of the Manhattan Project did not know exactly what it was that they were building. Such was the case for Len's design team. They did not realize it was the atomic bomb that they had worked on until the detonations over Japan in 1945.
After the war, Johnson left US Steel and the government. He spent the rest of the 1940s working the heavy machinery sales business. Following a successful career in business, Len returned to U.S. Steel to work new technology advances in the heyday of the steel industry, writing articles, and contributing breakthroughs to both academia and government. He eventually retired in 1964. He was married firstly to Ruth Scanlon (1910–1959), and secondly to Margaret Johnson. He had two sons and is buried outside Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. His service records were recently declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scientist.
"Len" Johnson was an American engineer, designer, and scientist in the mid-twentieth century in the field of metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
and nuclear technology. He was one of the first Irish Catholics to break into the exclusive field of design engineering for the Department of Defense.
Len Johnson was born in Freeland
Freeland, Pennsylvania
Freeland, originally called Birbeckville after founder Joseph Birkbeck, then South Heberton, is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, south of Wilkes-Barre, and 10 miles northeast of Hazleton in an agricultural region. Freeland was officially incorporated as a borough on September 11, 1876....
, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
-Notable people:*Boxing heavyweight great Muhammad Ali had his training camp in Deer Lake.*Charles Justin Bailey, commanding general of the 81st Division in World War I, was born in Tamaqua on June 21, 1859....
in 1905. Though from an Irish family, Len was actually the 4th generation in the US. His great grandfather had immigrated from Moneyneana, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
, Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1839, prior to the great Irish Famine. However, his roots in Pennsylvania and in America went back to the early 1700s.
The first member of his family to come to America was, Sir William Johnson (McShane
McShane
McShane may refer to:People*See: McShane Other uses* McShane Bell Foundry, church bell manufacturer, located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA* McShane's identity, geometric topology...
) who originally came to the colony of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1720. He managed his uncles properties and eventually created his own estate called Johnstown (town), New York
Johnstown (town), New York
Johnstown is a town located in Fulton County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the town had a population of 7,166. The name of the town is from landowner William Johnson....
. William rose to prominence in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
as the Commissioner of the Iroquois tribe. He created and led an army of Indian and settler soldiers at various battles rising to the rank of Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in the British army in America. The Battle of Lake George
Battle of Lake George
The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. The battle was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America in the French and Indian War....
in 1755 earned him a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
title and his capture of Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara
Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...
with his Indian troops defeating the French army made him, "Johnson of New York". It is still an active baronetcy within the family. His grandmother was Ada "Mary" Wilson. Her family had been originally come to the US in the 1750s as Quakers outside Philadelphia. Len had an early grandfather, Captain Joseph Greene, who commanded the Northumberland County Ranger
Ranger
-Law enforcement:* Arizona Rangers* California State Rangers* Colorado Mounted Rangers* Council ranger, a type of officer in Australia* Newfoundland Rangers* New Mexico Rangers* Pakistan Rangers, a Pakistani paramilitary force* Texas Ranger Division...
company at the close of the American Revolution in 1782, and had served in the York County militia from as early as 1777. Through his grandmother he was also a close cousin to President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
.
His grandfather John was a collier engineer in Freeland, Pennsylvania, and his uncle, Captain Patrick Johnson, was an officer in the 116th Infantry Regiment of Pennsylvania, of the Irish Brigade
Irish Brigade
Irish Brigade may refer to:* Irish Brigade , the Jacobite brigade in the French army, 1690–1792 * Irish Brigade , pro-Union Civil War brigade of Irish immigrants...
and had fought at the Wheatfield at Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
. Both were regionally famous musicians. His father, John Joseph "Jack" Johnson was the first Irish boss of the huge Cox Coal Company. It is estimated that Jack Johnson directed over 1000 workers on a day to day basis spanning six major installations to include a railroad. As a young man he was selected to be the first Irish boss and was educated by the company. After his formal education he was placed in charge of the entire field. That position allowed his son, Len, to enter into the prestigious Mining and Mechanical Institute (now MMI Preparatory School
MMI Preparatory School
-External links:**...
) from which he was graduated in 1922.
From there, Len became the first of his family to attend college. He chose to attend Pennsylvania State College (now University) and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1926. What to do after graduation proved to be a difficult decision to make in that he was offered a job with the professional baseball team system, the St. Louis Browns. He was a particularly good 2nd baseman and was playing semi-professional
Semi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
baseball at the time for the Allentown Dukes. However, he chose to go into engineering full time, returning to the coal fields and went to work for Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...
company through the 1920s. Len's work with new casting designs brought him greater attention and was eventually notice by U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel
The United States Steel Corporation , more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States, Canada, and Central Europe. The company is the world's tenth largest steel producer ranked by sales...
. In the 1930s he was hired and went to work for a US Steel affliliate, the National Tube works in Lorain, Ohio
Lorain, Ohio
Lorain is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland....
and then to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, where he became the General Manager of the entire plant. While there he wrote numerous articles on the advancements of steel use in the defense industry. He stayed until the late 1930s when he rose to become a designer of new steel products, leading the transition away from casting to the use of rolled steel.
World War II
U.S. Steel was starting to advance their weaponry design department in preparation for what would become World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Len went into the steel weapons design department and was on the team that first issued the patent for the rolled steel artillery shell, replacing those that were cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
. This advancement increased the effective range of artillery shrapnel out to a bursting radius of fifty meters. Another design patent he made was the aluminum fuel blivet
Blivet
A blivet, also known as a poiuyt, devil's fork or widget, is an undecipherable figure, an optical illusion and an impossible object...
that would roll behind a jeep. Both designs are still used by the military today in some shape or form. It was due to his extensive work in metallurgical uses for the battlefield that brought Len to the attention of the OSS
OSS
-Science and technology:* Open-source software* Open Sound System, a standard interface for making and capturing sound in Unix operating systems* Open Search Server, search engine software...
. In 1945, as the Chief Research Engineer for National Tube Company, he wrote the headlining article for the Yearbook of American Iron and Steel Institute. The article was titled "The Witter Process for the Manufacture of Shell Forgings and the Spinning Process for the Manufacture of Bombs". This article captured the sea-change the Steel Industry made in moving away from cast iron shells and into milled steel weapons.
Manhattan Project
For the majority of the war, Johnson and his family lived in Pittsburgh and worked on new metallic products. However, when his design expertise brought him to the attention of the OSS, he was moved into the Top Secret Department of Defense project to develop an atomic bomb.He was brought into the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
in the early 1940s and given a team whose job it was to develop two separate metallic imploding bomb casings. These two designs were later named "Fatman
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
" and "Little Boy
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...
". As was common at that time, each cell of the Manhattan Project did not know exactly what it was that they were building. Such was the case for Len's design team. They did not realize it was the atomic bomb that they had worked on until the detonations over Japan in 1945.
After the war, Johnson left US Steel and the government. He spent the rest of the 1940s working the heavy machinery sales business. Following a successful career in business, Len returned to U.S. Steel to work new technology advances in the heyday of the steel industry, writing articles, and contributing breakthroughs to both academia and government. He eventually retired in 1964. He was married firstly to Ruth Scanlon (1910–1959), and secondly to Margaret Johnson. He had two sons and is buried outside Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. His service records were recently declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
.