Morton Sobell (1917–2018)

Morton Sobell was born to Russian immigrant parents in Manhattan, New York on April 11, 1917. He graduated with a degree in engineering at City College. While there, he joined the Young Communist League and met fellow student Julius Rosenberg. After graduation, Sobell worked for the Navy's Bureau mostrar mais of Ordnance and then for General Electric. In 1948, he joined the Reeves Instrument Corporation of New York as lead engineer on a radar tracking system. After the arrest of Ethel Rosenberg's brother, Sobell fled to Mexico with his wife and children. While in Mexico, he used aliases, rented an apartment, and sought ship passage to hospitable countries. He was found and sent back to the United States on August 16, 1950. In 1951, he along with the Rosenbergs were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage. After a two-week trial, the jury found all three defendants guilty of conspiracy. The Rosenbergs were sentenced to death and Sobell was given a 30-year prison term. He served 18 years in prison and was released on January 14, 1969. He went on to study electronics at Columbia University and taught at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He also worked for a medical supply company and developed a low-cost hearing aid. His memoir, On Doing Time, was published in 1974. He asserted his innocence until 2008, when, in an interview with The New York Times, he admitted to being a Soviet spy. He insisted that the secrets he had supplied to the Soviets involved only defensive radar and artillery devices. He died on December 26, 2019 at the age of 101. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos