Downers Grove Public Library Foundation welcomes Manhattan Project scientist

The Downers Grove Public Library Foundation (DGPLF) will hold a conversation with Dieter Gruen, a German-born scientist and longtime Downers Grove resident who was a member of the Manhattan Project team at the Oak Ridge site and worked at Argonne National Laboratory for more than 60 years, at 2 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Avery Coonley School auditorium.

The event is in recognition of the Foundation and the Friends joining forces earlier this year for strengthened advocacy and fundraising on behalf of the Library.

Tickets for the event are on sale and can be purchased at the following link. Proceeds will benefit the Downers Grove Public Library.

Born in 1922, Gruen fled Nazi Germany and earned degrees in chemistry and physics from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Throughout his distinguished career, he has been a delegate to the United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, a visiting professor and frequent lecturer, the co-author of more than 400 publications and has received dozens of awards for his work, according to a press release from DGPLF.

In 2021, he was nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor in the United States. He resides in Downers Grove in the house he shared with the late wife of 66 years, with whom he has three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.