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David Conner
Feb. 27, 2024, evening

Pedantic note: Carter as a "nuclear scientist" is an exaggeration. He has a B.S. degree (undifferentiated at the Naval Academy in his day, but it was and is basically an engineering school.) Obviously in 1946 it was a bit early for USNA to have specialized nuclear engineering training.

He was one of Rickover's officers, which is definitely impressive, but his job was kinda like Homer Simpson's (or Homer's supervisor, more like.) He was going to nuclear power school when he resigned his commission, and no doubt could have succeeded on that track if he'd stayed in the Navy, but he didn't.

My dad worked with a lot of genuine nuclear scientists and engineers who were irritated that the media basically acted like Carter was one their peers. https://homework.study.com/explanation/was-jimmy-carter-a-nuclear-engineer.html

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