- Date Of Birth: November 27, 1923
- Date Of Death: May 1, 2011
- State: Arizona
Dr. J Ernest Wilkins Jr, 87, passed away Sunday in Fountain Hills AZ. He was born in Chicago IL, the son of the late J Ernest Wilkins, Sr and Lucille Beatrice (Robinson) Wilkins. J Ernest entered the University of Chicago at age 13, the youngest student ever admitted and received his PhD in Mathematics when he was 19. Today his picture hangs in Eckhart Hall, the prestigious Tea Room of the University’s Mathematics department.
During his 61-year career, J Ernest worked on the Manhattan Project where his contributions to nuclear-reactor physics included a discovery known as the Wilkins effect. He worked in industry at the American Optical Company, the Nuclear Development Corporation, General Atomics, and EG&G. He influenced future scientists as a Distinguished Mathematics Professor and thesis advisor at Howard University and later at Clark Atlanta University.
He is survived by his children, Sharon Wilkins Hill and J Ernest Wilkins III from his first wife, Gloria Stewart Wilkins (deceased), his three grandchildren Bree, West and Shaynan, and his two great grand-daughters Samantha and Alexa.
