Rickover, Hyman George

Hyman George Rickover, U.S. naval officer, graduated from the U.S. naval Academy in 1918 and received an M.S. from Columbia University in 1929. He conceived the idea of an atomic submarine in 1947 and designed and constructed the nuclear powered USS Nautilus, which was launched in 1954. He helped to construct other atomic submarines, including USS Seawolf in 1955. He was known as the father of the Nuclear Navy.

Admiral Rickover was a leading proponent of nuclear-powered submarines and warships. He was head of the Atomic Energy Commission's Naval Reactor branch in 1947 and supervised the construction of the Navy's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, in 1954.