# Thomas Neff
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{{Short description|American physicist (1943–2024)}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Thomas Neff
|birth_name = Thomas Lee Neff
|birth_date = {{birth date|1943|09|25}}
|birth_place = [Lake Oswego, Oregon](/source/Lake_Oswego%2C_Oregon), U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|2024|07|11|1943|09|25}}
|death_place =
|occupation = Physicist
|alma_mater = [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University)
}}
'''Thomas Lee Neff'''[{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/thomas-l-neffs-idea-turned-russian-warheads-into-american-electricity.html|title=From Warheads to Cheap Energy|first=William J.|last=Broad|work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|date=January 28, 2014|access-date=July 20, 2024}}] (September 25, 1943 – July 11, 2024) was an American physicist. He played a major role in the [Megatons to Megawatts Program](/source/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program) that dismantled thousands of [nuclear warheads](/source/nuclear_warhead).
== Life and career ==
Neff was born in [Lake Oswego, Oregon](/source/Lake_Oswego%2C_Oregon) on September 25, 1943.[[https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/07/23/thomas-neff-dead/ Thomas Neff, who helped turn Soviet nukes into electricity, dies at 80] Washington Post][{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/20/world/europe/thomas-l-neff-dead.html|title=Thomas Neff, Who Turned Soviet Warheads Into Electricity, Dies at 80|work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|date=July 20, 2024|access-date=July 20, 2024|first=William J.|last=Broad}}] He attended [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University).
As a post-doc, he was an assistant to American Physical Society President [Wolfgang "Pief" Panofsky](/source/Pief_Panofsky) and helped write legislation that created the [US Department of Energy](/source/United_States_Department_of_Energy).[{{cite web |last1=Lott |first1=Jeffery |title=The Power of a Transformative Idea |url=https://www.lclark.edu/live/news/28020-the-power-of-a-transformative-idea |website=Lewis and Clark University |access-date=29 July 2024}}] He went on to become a professor of [physics](/source/physics) at the [Massachusetts Institute of Technology](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology)[{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/359157238/|title=Agreement enriches U.S., Russia: Uranium pact turns nuclear swords into plowshares|work=The Courier|location=[Waterloo, Iowa](/source/Waterloo%2C_Iowa)|date=October 27, 1992|access-date=July 20, 2024|page=29|via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Closed access}}][{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/775198285/|title=Brilliant idea serves Russia and U.S.|work=[The Knoxville News-Sentinel](/source/The_Knoxville_News-Sentinel)|location=[Knoxville, Tennessee](/source/Knoxville%2C_Tennessee)|date=November 1, 1992|access-date=July 20, 2024|page=69|via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Closed access}}][{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1001659688/|title=Uranium agreement could be first step toward a safer planet|work=[The Orange Leader](/source/The_Orange_Leader_(Texas))|location=[Orange, Texas](/source/Orange%2C_Texas)|date=November 21, 1992|access-date=July 20, 2024|page=4|via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} {{Closed access}}] during the 1990s.
Neff is credited with dreaming up the [Megatons to Megawatts Program](/source/Megatons_to_Megawatts_Program) and selling the idea to the governments of the USA and post-Soviet Russia. Under the program, Russia dismantled many of its nuclear warheads and sold the diluted [uranium](/source/uranium) to the USA to power nuclear reactors. The program solved the problem of how to shrink the USSR's large nuclear weapons stockpile and keep weapons-grade uranium from being sold to America's enemies.
He was a fellow of the [American Physical Society](/source/American_Physical_Society).[{{Cite web|url=https://obits.concordfuneral.com/dr-thomas-neff|title=Dr. Thomas L. Neff|work=Concord Funeral Home|access-date=July 20, 2024|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240720192342/https://obits.concordfuneral.com/dr-thomas-neff#selection-415.0-415.18|archive-date=July 20, 2024|url-status=live|via=[archive.today](/source/archive.today)}}] He died on July 11, 2024, at the age of 80.