Partner Carl Collins Greene
Queer Places:
136 E 67th St, New York, NY 10065
181 6th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Dr. Claude Rene Schwob (June 16, 1910 - July 24, 2000) was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and grew up in France. He received his B.S. M.S. and doctorate in Chemistry from Fordham University in 1931, and taught at the University’s St. Peter’s College.
In 1943 Schwob enlisted in the U.S. Army and volunteered for training in the chemical warfare service. His expertise in chemistry, a B.S., M.S., and doctorate in the subject from Fordham University, led to his work on the Manhattan Project where he developed methods of isolating and measuring activity of radio-‐isotopes and researched counting techniques, corrosion studies, and physical properties of special materials in an effort to prepare for the development and deployment of a nuclear bomb. Master Sergeant Schwob conducted his research first at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and then the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, before moving to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Hired as a radio chemist, Schwob worked under Dr. Enrico Fermi’s Division, the Experimental Nuclear Physics Group. Schwob described his work “in large part original and of a type never attempted before.” On a flat stretch of high New Mexico desert, in the early morning hours of July 16, 1945, Schwob witnessed, along with 424 others, the one hundred ton Trinity bomb, the first atomic explosion in history. The federal government announced the purpose of the Manhattan Project and the nation’s use of an atomic weapon on August 6, 1945.
Schwob, a gay man, made a significant contribution to the United States’ defense of democracy during a historical moment when the federal government viewed homosexuals as a threat to the nation. Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of Project Y, commended Schwob for his “work in the preparation and development of a novel method of testing the atomic bomb, and subsequently helping carry through this test with eminently satisfactory results.” Schwob carried out his role as a scientist working on the top secret Manhattan Project after the military banned homosexuals from all branches of the military (1943), but before purges of homosexuals from federal government employment (1947). Like other gay men from this era, Schwob perfected the ability to move between different lives. He passed as straight, which allowed him to pursue his scientific career while he participated in an underground gay life. On the one hand, Schwob defied the hetero/homo binary by working in a top-‐secret government agency. Yet in order to do so, he concealed his homosexual identity from public view. Secrecy encoded his life.
Even with all of these stringent restrictions, Schwob found ways to negotiate his identity as a top-‐secret scientist and a hidden gay man. While working at Los Alamos, Schwob corresponded with a lover, “Carlos” Carl Collins Greene, who served overseas. Greene listed Schwob as his contact person in his enlisting papers. Greene often wrote letters like this one to Schwob: “Spent a wonderful day walking over the cliffs and browsing in this old village. Found many things of interest, which you would like. – Why can’t you be with me? It has been a glorious weekend – only one thing missing.” In another letter, Greene again expressed his yearning to be with Schwob: “It is a cold rainy day; but so very comfortable by the fire. Don’t you love to hear wood cracking? I do, but an open fire on a cold autumn day, music, and tea makes me dream and long for other days, other places, and someone . . .” Greene does not identify his ‘someone,’ but his next sentence clarifies that his longing was for Schwob, “This is a sorry, disconnected letter, am trying to be with you.” He ends the letter with “all my love, Your C.” Greene and Schwob’s correspondence reflects genuine affection and an aching to be together. Schwob had many satisfying relationships with other men even working within a highly secretive government agency, he found ways to embrace his gay identity. Dr. Schwob dealt with inquires about his non-‐marital status throughout his career such as this article in the Naval Radiological Defense Lab Newsletter shows: “Dr. Schwob is that rara avis -‐ -‐ a bachelor. Perhaps, his vital interest in work and many diversified hobbies has kept him so busy he hasn’t gotten around to thoughts of matrimony.” The author’s veiled references to suspicion about Schwob’s sexuality compelled him to give a reason for Schwob’s single status. Little did he know that the hobby that consumed much of Schwob’s time was male erotic photography. Schwob began his hobby of taking nude photographs of men – a number of them soldiers – in the late 1930s. He continued throughout his life and retained an extensive series of homoerotic pictures.
After his time in New Mexico, he taught at Chicago’s Carnegie Institute of Technology until 1947. In 1948, he applied for a position at the U S. Naval Radiological Defense Lab in San Francisco, where he spent the remainder of his professional life. He became one of the nation’s foremost experts on radiation and the focus of his work was safe ways of detecting, preventing, and responding to radiation exposure. According to his obituary in the B.A.R., Schwob loved San Gregorio beach, the Russian River, the pool at the Oasis, beautiful men and photography. He supported programs for homeless gay youth, such as Hospitality House. During much of his adult life, Schwob collected or took photographs of nude men and accumulated a large number of these prints. According to the donor of his papers (who owned a used magazine store), Schwob continued to be sexually active until close to his death at age 90.
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