Manson Benedict was an American nuclear engineer and a professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1958 to 1968, he was the chairman of the advisory committee to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He was born on October 9, 1907 in Lake Linden, Michigan. He received a B.S. from Cornell University in chemistry and a Ph.D. from MIT in physical chemistry. Benedict was well known for his pioneering role in nuclear engineering. He developed the gaseous diffusion method for separating the isotopes of uranium and supervised the engineering and process development of the K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where fissionable material for the atomic bomb was produced.

In 1951 he was invited to be MIT's first professor of nuclear engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering. The Department of Nuclear Engineering was established on July 1, 1958, with Benedict as the first department head. From 1958 to 1968, Benedict was a member and chair of the Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, appointed by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. Benedict won many awards, including the William H. Walker award in 1947, the Perkin Research Medal in 1966, the Robert E. Wilson Award in 1968, the Enrico Fermi Award in 1972, and the National Medal of Science from President Gerald Ford in 1975.