He was involved in the Manhattan Project, and was later director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

[2] In his primary education, Larson was selected for a class that combined both seventh and eighth grades which meant he entered high school a year younger than his peers.

[2] In high school he created his own telegraph network between his neighbors' houses by collecting discarded parts from the Bell telephone company.

[2] From 1939 to 1942 Larson chaired the Chemistry Department at the College of the Pacific, where he continued his cyclotron research, which led to his recruitment into the Manhattan Project.

[3] In 1955, Larson left Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to become vice president of the National Carbon Division of Union Carbide Corporation.

[6] Larson was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973 for "the development of processes for recovery and purification of uranium and leadership in nuclear plant design.