Dr. Edward Manning is a physics professor and the intended target of a bombing.
History[]
Dr Manning worked at the Hudson Polytech labs performing subatomic physics experiments. He was divorcing his wife Florence because he eventually had an affair with a younger woman, a chemist named Cynthia Thomas, with Florence trying to extend the time of the proceedings and make it cost more for Dr. Manning to spite him.
When Florence was killed with a mail bomb, which had more lethality when it blew the letter opener she used into her neck with the force of the blast, Manning was suspected due to his scientific background and the former couple's separation. Manning was cleared due to his labs not exposing the bomb's components to the radiation it was, leading to the real bomber, Max Weiss being tracked through his lab and identified by Cynthia as arguing with Manning earlier.
The team assumed with a check in Weiss' account, Manning paid Weiss to kill Florence, but the real motive exposed Weiss acting alone. It was revealed that Dr. Manning repeatedly restricted Weiss from his chances at tenure, then stole his theses on proton decay to benefit from them, which only bungled Weiss' studies under Manning's watch. This infuriated Weiss and led to their argument outside Florence's apartment. Since Weiss didn't know they were divorcing and Florence lived alone, she was killed by the bomb when Manning was the targeted victim.
Manning was encouraged to testify against Weiss about Weiss' moves, which successfully led to Weiss' conviction on murder and sentence of 25 to life in prison. Manning was likely destroyed by career disgrace, but the rest of his culpability for his plagiarism is unknown. (L&O: "Big Bang")