Lee Grodzins (born July 10, 1926) is an American professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[1] After work as a researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Grodzins joined the faculty of MIT, where he taught physics for nearly four decades. He was also head of R&D for Niton Corporation, which developed devices to detect dangerous contaminants and contraband. He wrote more than 150 technical papers and holds more than 60 US patents.[2][3]

Lee Grodzins in 2015

Education and early life

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Grodzins was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the son of David Melvin Grodzins and his wife Taube Grodzins, Jewish emigrants, with roots in Poland and Grodno, Belarus.[4] The family settled in Manchester, New Hampshire.[2] He graduated with a BS degree in engineering in 1946 from the University of New Hampshire.[5] He began his career with General Electric as an assistant in the nuclear physics group at their research laboratory in Schenectady, New York.[1] He earned his PhD in physics at Purdue University in 1954 and taught for a year afterwards at Purdue.[6][7]

Career and research

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Grodzins in 2007

From 1955 to 1958, Grodzins was a researcher with the nuclear physics group at Brookhaven National Laboratory, probing the properties of the nuclei of atoms. In 1956 he married a biologist whom he met at Brookhaven, Lulu née Anderson (1929– 2019).[2][8] The same year, together with Maurice Goldhaber and Andrew Sunyar [de], Grodzins performed an experiment that determined that neutrinos have negative helicity. This work was important in our understanding of the weak interaction.[6] Grodzins joined the faculty of the physics department of MIT in 1959 and was a professor of physics there from 1966 to 1998. In 1985, he carried out the first computer axial tomographic experiment using synchrotron radiation.[1]

Meanwhile, in 1987, he co-founded and led research and development at Niton Corporation, which developed, manufactured and marketed test kits and instruments to measure radon gas in buildings and toxic elements, such as lead.[6][9] There he also developed handheld devices that use X-ray fluorescence to determine the composition of metal alloys and to detect other materials.[6] In 1998, he left MIT to work full-time directing the R&D group at Niton, and in 2005, he and his family sold Niton.[10] His sister Ethel Grodzins Romm was the President and CEO of Niton,[11] followed by his son Hal.[12] Grodzins also developed devices to detect explosives, drugs and other contraband in luggage and cargo containers.[6] Four of his devices earned R&D 100 awards, given annually by R&D Magazine to the 100 most innovative technical products in the US.[1][13]

Grodzins wrote more than 150 technical papers and holds more than 50 US patents. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1964–65 and in 1971–72, and a Senior Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in 1980–81.[1] He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Purdue University in 1998.[6] He is a founding member of the Union of Concerned Scientists and was its president in 1972.[1] In 1999, he founded Cornerstones of Science, a public library initiative to help children and adults explore science. He serves as its president.[5] MIT named the Lee Grodzins Postdoctoral Fellows Lecture Award for him.[14]

Personal life

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His sister Anne Grodzins Lipow was a librarian and library science expert,[15] and his sister Ethel was an author, project manager, CEO and co-chair of the Lyceum Society of the New York Academy of Sciences.[4][11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Lee Grodzins", MIT faculty directory, September 11, 2015, accessed July 6, 2016
  2. ^ a b c Kane, Debbie. "A Life Driven by Curiosity", UNH Today, November 28, 2017, accessed August 25, 2021
  3. ^ American Men & Women of Science, 19th Issue, 1995–96 Volume 3. G-I RR Bowler, New Providence, New Jersey (1994), ISBN 0-8352-3466-5 (Volume 3), ISBN 0-8352-3463-0 (complete works), S. 415
  4. ^ a b Kawasaki, Guy. "Ethel Grodzins Romm" in Hindsights: The Wisdom and Breakthroughs of Remarkable People, Beyond Words Publishing (1994) ISBN 0941831957, pp. 11–17
  5. ^ a b "Board of Directors and Executive Advisory Board", Cornerstones of Science, accessed July 7, 2016
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Lee Grodzins: Honorary Degree Recipient", Purdue University, July 31, 2014, accessed July 7, 2016
  7. ^ Grodzins, Lee. "A cloud chamber study of the single scattering of 2.5 MeV positrons by gold nuclei", Purdue University, 1954, accessed August 25, 2021
  8. ^ "Lulu A. Grodzins", The Boston Globe, March 24, 2019, accessed August 25, 2021
  9. ^ Thomson, Elizabeth A. "Lead detector wins R&D award", MIT News, December 13, 1995, accessed July 12, 2016
  10. ^ "Thermo Electron buys Niton for $40.5M", Boston Business Journal, March 30, 2005, accessed July 7, 2016; and "Thermo Scientific NITON® XRF Analyzers", Thermo Scientific, 2007, accessed July 7, 2016
  11. ^ a b "The Workmen's Circle to Honor Activists Ethel Grodzins Romm & Joe Romm at 2016 Winter Benefit", BroadwayWorld.com, October 20, 2016
  12. ^ "Niton receives award for 2003", Stainless Steel World, July 16, 2003
  13. ^ "Innovation award recognises Niton alloy analyser", Tradelink Publications, October 7, 2008
  14. ^ "The Lee Grodzins Post-Doctoral Award", 2016, accessed July 7, 2016
  15. ^ "Lipow, Anne Grodzins", Obituary, SFGate.com, September 12, 2004, accessed July 12, 2016
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