Later years Wigner was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1944 and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1945. He accepted a position as the director of research and development at the Clinton Laboratory (now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in early 1946. Because he did not want to be involved in administrative duties, he became co-director of the laboratory, with James Lum handling the administrative chores as executive director. When the newly created Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) took charge of the laboratory's operations at the start of 1947, Wigner feared that many of the technical decisions would be made in Washington. He also saw the Army's continuation of wartime security policies at the laboratory as a "meddlesome oversight", interfering with research. One such incident occurred in March 1947, when the AEC discovered that Wigner's scientists were conducting experiments with a critical mass of uranium-235 when the director of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie R. Groves, Jr., had forbidden such experiments in August 1946 after the death of Louis Slotin at the Los Alamos Laboratory. Wigner argued that Groves's order had been superseded, but was forced to terminate the experiments, which were completely different from the one that killed Slotin.
later years wigner was elected to the american philosophical society in 1944 and the united states national academy of sciences in 1945 he accepted a position as the director of research and development at the clinton laboratory (now the oak ridge national laboratory) in oak ridge tennessee in early 1946 because he did not want to be involved in administrative duties he became co-director of the laboratory with james lum handling the administrative chores as executive director when the newly created atomic energy commission (aec) took charge of the laboratory's operations at the start of 1947 wigner feared that many of the technical decisions would be made in washington he also saw the army's continuation of wartime security policies at the laboratory as a "meddlesome oversight" interfering with research one such incident occurred in march 1947 when the aec discovered that wigner's scientists were conducting experiments with a critical mass of uranium-235 when the director of the manhattan project major general leslie r groves jr had forbidden such experiments in august 1946 after the death of louis slotin at the los alamos laboratory wigner argued that groves's order had been superseded but was forced to terminate the experiments which were completely different from the one that killed slotin