Walker Bleakney (February 8, 1901 – January 15, 1992) was an American physicist,[1] one of inventors of mass spectrometers,[1][2][3][4] and widely noted for his research in the fields of atomic physics, molecular physics, fluid dynamics, the ionization of gases, and blast waves.

[5][6] He was the head of the Princeton Ballistic Project during World War II.

[5] He then spent his entire career at Princeton University, first as a National Research Fellow,[8] then as an instructor in 1932.

[5] During World War II he led the development of the modern shock tube.

[5] Along with validating the possibility that 3H could be unstable, his work also produced some of the earliest trustworthy proof of the tritium content of regular hydrogen.For example, he proved that heavy water contains traces of tritium i.e. triple-weight hydrogen (1935).