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FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
100-359682-53 Los Angeles Rept 9-1-49 Made by: Arthur C. Wittenburg; LA File #: 65-4846
Captioned. Dr. Sidney Weinbaum, with aliases: Israel Weinbaum, Sydney Empson, Sena Weinbaum, Sidney Vanbau Espionage — R
BASIS FOR INVESTIGATION
Source T-1 of known reliability, advised that he was conversant with the fact that the records of the LA County CP indicated subj., using the party alias of Sydney Empson was a member of the Professional Unit #122 in Pasadena, California, during the yrs. 1937-1939. This same source supplied party card numbers for the years 1938 and 1939. Additionally, he advised that the subj. was the unit representative to the County Commission and was County Organizer for the section.
BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF DR. SIDNEY WEINBAUM
Subj. is a Russian born naturalized citizen who has resided in the US since 1922. According to the subj., after his father was murdered by the Bolshevik forces, he escaped from Russia through Poland, where Russians assisted him to emigrate to the U.S. Shortly after his arrival here, he entered the Cal. Inst. of Tech. at Pasadena, Calif. where he was graduated with the degree of B.S. in 1924. After a period of private employment, the subj. went to Riga, Latvia, where he was married in 1928. On his return to the US, he again entered the Cal. Inst. of Tech. and in 1933 obtaining a degree of Ph.D. cum laude.
Since obtaining his Ph.D. degree, the sub. has specialized in the field of theoretical physics, and until 1941 he obtained a position with the Bendix Aircraft Corporation, North Hollywood, Calif., and after remaining there for 2 yrs. he left to take a position at Buffalo, NY, with Curtiss-Wright Corp., which later became the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory. In 1946 the subj. returned to Pasadena and was again employed by Cal. Inst. of Tech. in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is a separate enterprise not located on the campus.
He remained there until 7-19-49, when he was terminated because of refusal of Army authorities to allow him further access to classified materials. Subj. was then rehired by the Inst. on the main campus in the Chemistry Department. Shortly after his rehire, the Board of Trustees of the Inst. placed him on a 90 day leave with pay and held a decision as to his permanent rehiring in abeyance pending the outcome of an appeal of the "denial of clearance" by the Army authorities.
The subj. presently resides with his wife, Angeline, and daughter [Redacted], a senior student at the U. of Calif. at Los Angeles. Subject's current residence address is 648 South Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena, Calif.
Weinbaum's birthday is 3-16-98.
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