William Weldon Watson IV (14 September 1899 in Eveleth, Minnesota – 3 August 1992 in Hamden, Connecticut) was a physicist specializing in isotope separation and a contributor to the development of the atomic bomb.
Prior to 1940 Watson did research on molecular structures and spectra.
Beginning in 1940 and for the remainder of his career, he studied isotope separation.
In 1943 Watson took a leave of absence from Yale to become one of the division directors under Arthur Compton at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago.
[1] He was one of the paternal uncles[3] of the famous molecular biologist James Dewey Watson,[4] whose paternal great-grandfather was William Weldon Watson III.