Leslie Shepherd (physicist)

Leslie Robert Shepherd (23 November 1918 – 18 February 2012) was a Welsh nuclear physicist. He was involved in the design and operation of the experimental Dragon reactor, which used helium as a coolant. He was also an advocate of space exploration, serving as the president of the British Interplanetary Society and the International Astronautical Federation.

Early life

Leslie Robert Shepherd was born on 23 November 1918, in Pontycymmer, Wales, where his father, William Shepherd, was a station master. Although his family moved to London when he was a teenager, he retained a Welsh accent. When he was six years old he suffered an infection that left him deaf in his left ear. He entered University College, London, where he studied physics. On the outbreak of the Second World War he drafted into the British Army, serving in the Royal Corps of Signals, but was allowed to return to University College to complete his degree.[1] He graduated in 1940 with a BSc with first-class honours.

During the war he worked at the Mond Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where he was engaged in testing electronic fuses for naval guns. After the war ended Sir Arthur Vick persuaded him to remain at Cambridge and pursue postgraduate studies at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He married Elsie Lodge in 1947; they had one son. He completed his PhD in 1948, writing his thesis on "Magnetic Spectrometer Studies on Radioactive Isotopes".