---
born: 1912-11-02
category: Nuclear Scientists & Programs
died: 2002-06-11
location: Paris, France
summary: Bertrand Goldschmidt was a French nuclear chemist who served during World
  War II with American nuclear researchers, becoming an expert in the chemistry of
  plutonium and plutonium extraction.
tags:
- Person
- Nuclear
- Israel
---

Bertrand Goldschmidt was a French nuclear chemist who served during World War II with American nuclear researchers, becoming an expert in the chemistry of plutonium and plutonium extraction. He chose to return to [France](/places/france/) after the war and joined its [Atomic Energy Commission](/organizations/atomic-energy-commission/). Goldschmidt was among the few outsiders permitted to visit the completed reactor at [Dimona](/places/dimona/) in the 1960s.[^1]

Goldschmidt had strong emotional ties to [Israel](/places/israel/), heightened by his marriage into the Rothschild banking family, known for their contributions to Israeli and Jewish causes. He and his wife visited [Israel](/places/israel/) in the early 1950s and met [David Ben-Gurion](/people/david-ben-gurion/) through [Ernst David Bergmann](/people/ernst-david-bergmann/). As director of chemistry for [France](/places/france/)'s Atomic Energy Commission, he later became a respected spokesman on nonproliferation issues.[^1]

Goldschmidt vividly recalled a meeting of the French Atomic Energy Commission where [Ernst David Bergmann](/people/ernst-david-bergmann/) and [Shimon Peres](/people/shimon-peres/) requested to buy a heavy-water research reactor similar to the one [Canada](/places/canada/) was building in [India](/places/india/). He remained convinced that the basic decision to help [Israel](/places/israel/) get the bomb was made during these meetings in mid-September, before the [Suez Crisis](/events/suez-crisis/).[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 3.