Boris Pregel

Boris Pregel
Boris Pregel
Born	January 24, 1893 (age 133); Odessa, Russian Empire
Died	December 7, 1976 (aged 83)
Occupation(s)	Engineer, uranium and radium dealer
Known for	Supply of radium and uranium; involvement in Manhattan Project; president of New York Academy of Sciences

Boris Pregel (; born 24 January 1893 – died 7 December 1976) was an engineer and dealer specializing in uranium and radium, originally from the Russian Empire and of Jewish heritage. He was born in Odessa and pursued engineering studies at both the Free University of Brussels and the University of Liège. During World War I, Pregel served in the Russian military, achieving the rank of colonel and overseeing Russia's only aircraft manufacturing facility before moving to Paris following the October Revolution.

After settling in Paris, Pregel established a partnership with Edgar Sengier of Union Minière in the Belgian Congo, thereby gaining control of the world's radium supply from the 1920s through World War II. He played a key role in advancing radio-therapy equipment installations, including those at Sweden's Queen Sofia Hospital, and assisted Marie Curie by securing radium for her scientific investigations.

In 1937, Pregel remarried, taking artist Alexandra Avksentiev as his wife. He was honored with the French Legion of Honour in 1939 for his leadership of the International Organisation to Fight Cancer. Following his escape from Nazi-occupied France in 1940, he relocated to New York City where he co-established the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp of New York alongside his brother Alexander, serving as its president. The company specialized in marketing uranium-rich ores sourced from northern Canada and Colorado.

Pregel provided uranium supplies to Columbia University scientists engaged in the Manhattan Project and manufactured radioactive neutron sources as well as luminescent signage. Acting as an agent for Eldorado Mining & Refining, his enterprise supplied nearly all uranium used in North America for the Manhattan Project. During World War II, with authorization from U.S. authorities, Pregel also sold uranium oxide to the Soviet Union.

In 1945, Canadian officials initiated an inquiry into Pregel’s financial affairs; this matter was resolved privately with a payment exceeding $1 million, after which Pregel terminated his agency contract with Eldorado.

During a 1946 address at the New School, Pregel contemplated nuclear science’s capacity for both devastation and advancement, advocating for the ethical application of scientific knowledge to benefit humanity.

He held prominent positions such as president and chairman of the New York Academy of Sciences, president of New York’s French University (École Libre), trustee of the New School for Social Research, and vice-president of the American Geographical Society. In recognition of his contributions, Pregel was awarded several honorary degrees and established the Boris Pregel Awards for scientific achievement through the New York Academy of Sciences.

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