Samuel T. Cohen dies at 89; inventor of the neutron bomb
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 21:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Designed to kill living things but inflict little damage on property, the neutron bomb has about a tenth the explosive power of other nuclear weapons. President Reagan ordered 700 neutron warheads during the Cold War, but they were later dismantled.Samuel T. Cohen, the father of the controversial tactical nuclear weapon known as the neutron bomb, which was designed to kill people and other living things but inflict minimal damage on buildings and other property, died Sunday at his home in Brentwood. He was 89 and died two weeks after the removal of a cancerous tumor from his stomach, according to his son Paul.