---
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
tags:
  - Person
  - Nuclear
  - Physicist
  - Israel
summary: "Eugene Wigner was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate."
born: 1902-11-17
died: 1995-01-01
location: "Budapest, Hungary"
---

Eugene Wigner was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. He, along with [[I. I. Rabi]], was asked by the Israelis to visit the still-incomplete reactor at [[Dimona]] sometime early in 1961. They reported seeing no evidence of a weapons facility, and President [[John F. Kennedy]] expressed satisfaction with their conviction that the reactor was designed for peaceful purposes.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 8.