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Death NoticeAlvin Weinberg Submitted by Physics Today Editorial Staff Published on 20 October 2006 Alvin Weinberg, a former Oak Ridge National Laboratory director died Wednesday 18 October 2006. Weinberg helped develop the world's first nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project. He moved to Oak Ridge in 1945 to help produce the material for the first atomic bombs. Weinberg was born in Chicago to Russian emigrants and educated at the University of Chicago. He co-authored the standard text on nuclear chain reaction theory with Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner in the 1940s. He wrote for Physics Today magazine "Energy as an Ultimate Raw Material" (November 1959, page 18) and "Criteria for Scientific Choice" (March 1964, page 42). Weinberg became director of Oak Ridge in 1955 and remained in the position until 1973. Weinberg proposed the formation of the American Nuclear Society, and was a early proponent of pressurized-water reactors. In 1961, Weinberg chaired President Kennedy's Panel of Science Information, which produced the landmark "Weinberg Report" on the communication of science to technical and lay audiences. In 1975, Weinberg founded and became director of the Institute for Energy Analysis at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He retired in 1985 but remained closely connected to both the Institute and the laboratory. Current comments and reminiscences on Alvin Weinberg:It is with heavy hearts that we notify you of the death of Dr. Alvin M. Weinberg, director emeritus of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and distinguished fellow of Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Alvin was one of the pioneers of the Manhattan Project whose efforts culminated in the beginning of the Nuclear Age. In addition to making seminal contributions to nuclear science and technology, he was an exceptionally talented scientific administrator whose thinking continues to inform the development and execution of large-scale research programs. Until very recently, he remained intellectually engaged with the Laboratory, ORAU, and the scientific community, and we are grateful to have had the benefit of his incisive thinking and wise counsel. That one of the world's premier research institutions is located in the hills of East Tennessee is surely due in large part to Alvin's extraordinary gifts. Alvin's death at the age of 91 leaves us with a deep sense of loss, but his legacy of technical and policy leadership, here at ORNL and ORAU and throughout the world, will be an enduring one. Jeff WadsworthDirector, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Ron Townsend President and CEO Oak Ridge Associated Universities |