The Atom

The Atom is Professor Raymond Palmer; a Ivy University physics professor who discovered the ability to shrink and/or increase an object's physical mass at will.

One of the world's top scientific minds, Professor Palmer uses his shrinking ability to explore the subatomic world in the pursuit of furthering scientific discoveries in the field of physics.

Background
Raymond Palmer grew up in Ivy Town, Connecticut, where he studied physics at Ivy University, under renowned scientists such as Alpheus P. Hyatt. He began dating law student Jean Loring, eventually becoming exclusive. Both graduating and working in their professions, Ray would frequently ask Jean to marry him, but she would always decline, wanting to establish herself as a lawyer before getting married and settling down.

While a physics graduate student, Ray Palmer discovered a tiny fragment of white dwarf star material that had fallen to Earth. Investigating matter compression, Ray theorized that if he were to grind a lens from this fragment and focus ultraviolet light through it, he could shrink anything struck by the light down to a fraction of its original size. Ray rushed off to his laboratory, tried the experiment, and found that it worked exactly as he had imagined, with one tiny little catch: the objects he shrunk became unstable and exploded moments later.

A couple of days later, a disillusioned Ray and some friends became trapped in a cave-in while out spelunking. Ray was forced to risk instability and use the shrinking lens on himself in order to escape the cave and save the lives of his friends. For some reason, however, Ray didn't explode and returned to his normal height. In fact, the shrinking lens worked on his body much better than he had expected, and he developed a set of control devices that gave him limited control over his weight as well as his size. Ray later hypothesized that some unknown "x-factor" in his genetic makeup prevented his atoms from becoming unstable, though many scientists now believe that Ray's ability to shrink was actually made possible by the "Metagene", which is the source of many superhumans' powers.

Keeping his discoveries a secret, even from his girlfriend Jean Loring, Ray created the identity of the Atom and began a career of crime fighting in Ivy Town. In his first recorded adventure, the Atom stopped the crook Carl Ballard from exploiting the tiny alien Kulan Dar, to commit his crimes. Foiling this plot, the Atom became a trusted hero in Ivy Town, and established a great working relationship with the local police. Next, the Atom defended the wealthy Doctor Gordon Heath from a plot against him orchestrated by his caretaker, Bates. The Atom's heroics made him an ally of the CIA, who sent him overseas to rescue Professor Anton Kraft from foreign spies[6]. Returning home, he stopped crooked newspaper reporter Greg Phillips from stealing valuable chess pieces.[7]. The Atom met his first super-villain when battling Jason Woodrue, an exile from the Floral Dimension, who attempted to take over the Earth with specially bred plants. The Atom defeated Woodrue with the help of Maya Queen of the Dryads that live in the Floral Dimension[8]. Atom next stopped jewel thief Bart Tranter with the help of the self proclaimed Mr. Odd[9] and recaptures Carl Ballard when he masters Kulan Dar's teleportation abilities [10].

The Atom would next be used in a bizarre plot by Amos Fortune and other villains to destroy the Justice League of America, using a de-memorizor ray to pit the Atom against the League. With the aid of the Atom, the team of heroes would defeat Fortune and his minions and elect the Atom as a member of their group[11]. Next, the Atom would have his first clash with Chronos, a criminal obsessed with time[12].

The Atom's costume is invisible when he is at normal height, only becoming visible again when he shrinks in size Reconnecting with Professor Hyatt, Ray would learn of Hyatt's experiments with the Time Pool, a device of Hyatt's creation allowing him to "fish" for items out of a tiny portal that can bring items through time. As the Atom, Ray would travel back time to ancient Middle East where he would help a young boy named Hassan best a group of thieves and bring back a golden Dinar for Hyatt's study.

When preventing an invasion of Earth from the Thalens, the Atom would team up with extraterrestrial lawman Hawkman and his partner Hawkgirl, forming a long lasting partnership between the trio[25].

Resuming his activities in Ivy Town, Ray would battle his own costume when it briefly gained sentience[50] and aid Doc Magnus in rebuilding the Metal Men and stop the evil Uranium[51]. When visiting his old classmate Ed Thayer, Atom would get caught up in an attempt by foreign spies trying to steal Thayer's Illusion-Maker device[52] and foil the teleporting Hyper-Thief's robberies[53]. Atom is also present when the Justice League invites his ally Hawkman into the group[54] and in attendance of Aquaman's marriage to Mera[55].

Combat Statistics

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Associated Equipment

 * Atom Emblem

Trivia

 * Ray Palmer first appeared in Showcase #34 (October 1961).