Wilmot N. Hess
Encyclopedia
Wilmot N. Hess was an American physicist. He was involved with many ambitious scientific projects of the 20th century including the Plowshares project, the NASA Apollo moon missions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hurricane research and oil spill cleanup research, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) weather modification research, and the US Department of Energy Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) project. Dr. Hess retired Associate Director of the US Department of Energy
, first elected in 1976. Hess lived in California
, and died on April 16, 2004 at the age of 77, of leukemia.
.... We had military drills and wore Navy uniforms, but it was mostly just going to college. The first entry in our Navy log every day started out 'USS Hartley Hall securely moored at Broadway and 116th Street....' The Commodore in charge of all Naval Officer Procurement had his office in our building. We apprentice seamen stood watch near his door. At 4 pm we had to go in and say (with a straight face
): "Sir, the time is reported as 1600. The galley fires are out and the prisoners are ashore." If you smiled during the presentation, you might be thrown in the brig (jail)." He was 87th in his family line to go to Oberlin College, where he received his M.A. in Physics in 1949. Hess then attended the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1954.
Bill married Winifred Esther (Westher) Lowdermilk in June 1950, during his first year of graduate school at UC Berkeley. They had three children, Walter (deceased), Alison and Carl.
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
, first elected in 1976. Hess lived in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and died on April 16, 2004 at the age of 77, of leukemia.
Early life and education
Hess was born on October 16, 1926 in Oberlin, Ohio to Walter and Rachel (Metcalf) Hess. The family moved to Clinton, NY where he grew up during the Great Depression. He attended a one-room schoolhouse for the first six grades, with only three in his class but plenty of opportunity to 'skip ahead' due to the commingled age groups. Hess received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 1946 at the age of 19. In his privately published "Wilmot's World" biography, he says "I took the test to get into the Navy V-12 programV-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II...
.... We had military drills and wore Navy uniforms, but it was mostly just going to college. The first entry in our Navy log every day started out 'USS Hartley Hall securely moored at Broadway and 116th Street....' The Commodore in charge of all Naval Officer Procurement had his office in our building. We apprentice seamen stood watch near his door. At 4 pm we had to go in and say (with a straight face
Straight face test
The straight face test is a test of whether or not something is legitimate or serious based on whether or not a given statement can be made sincerely, without any compulsion to laugh. The phrase goes back to about 1987....
): "Sir, the time is reported as 1600. The galley fires are out and the prisoners are ashore." If you smiled during the presentation, you might be thrown in the brig (jail)." He was 87th in his family line to go to Oberlin College, where he received his M.A. in Physics in 1949. Hess then attended the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1954.
Bill married Winifred Esther (Westher) Lowdermilk in June 1950, during his first year of graduate school at UC Berkeley. They had three children, Walter (deceased), Alison and Carl.
Career
- 1954 - Lawrence Livermore Labs, working on nuclear weapons. Frequent travel to Nevada Test site.
- 1957 - Radiation Lab in Berkeley, to work at the bevatron and on the health physics team.
- 1959 - Project director of Plowshare (peaceful uses of atomic bombs) at Livermore. Technical advisor at the Nuclear Test Ban Conference in Geneva.
- 1961 - Director of Theoretical Division at NASA. Measured cosmic ray neutrons in space and was the first to make a quantitative energy spectrum on them. From "Wilmot's World": "I always felt a little bit like a fraud as Director of the Theoretical Division, not really being a theorist."
- Goddard Space Flight Center. From "Wilmot's World": "My years at Goddard were very happy and productive. The space program was just a few years old. I organized a series of Friday afternoon seminars on space research. Almost every week we heard about something brand new about space. The director of Goddard was an aeronautical engineer, Harry Goett. He was a fine man with a research background and gave us a lot of freedom.... My own research was on the Van Allen radiation beltVan Allen radiation beltThe Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, which is held in place by Earth's magnetic field. It is believed that most of the particles that form the belts come from solar wind, and other particles by cosmic rays. It is named after its discoverer, James...
. (We developed) a theory to explain how solar protons can diffuse inward and gain energy in the Earth's magnetic field. This quantitatively explained the observed Leo Davis protons." - 1966 - Director of Science and Applications for Apollo Moon Program, in Houston.
- 1969 - Director of the Research Labs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) in Boulder, CO.
- 1981 - Director of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO.
- 1986 - Director of the High Energy and Nuclear Physics Program at the Department of Energy (DOE), Washington, D.C.
- 1996 - Retired. From "Wilmot's World": "I have much enjoyed wandering through Space Science and meteorology and oceanography and changing fields every decade. I think it was a lot more fun than staying in one place and doing one thing all my life...."
Books
- Introduction to Space Science (1965) (Co-author: Gilbert D. Mead)
- The nature of the lunar surface; proceedings of the 1965 IAU-NASA Symposium. (1966)
- The Radiation Belt and MagnetosphereThe Radiation Belt and MagnetosphereThe Radiation Belt and Magnetosphere is a book written by Wilmot Hess in 1968. The intention of the book is to amalgamate and sift through some 2500 articles, written since 1960, on this topic.-See also:*Magnetosphere*Van Allen radiation belt...
(1968) - Weather and Climate Modification (1974)
- The Amoco Cadiz oil spill : a preliminary scientific report (1978)
Awards
- 1965 -- Arthur S. Flemming AwardArthur S. Flemming AwardThe Arthur S. Flemming Award was established in 1948 to honor outstanding federal employees. Recognized by the President of the United States, agency heads, and the private sector, the winners are selected from all areas of the federal service. More than 500 individuals have received the award to...
- 1969—NASA Group Achievement Award
- 1969—American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics G. Edward Pendray Award
- 197x—Honorary D. Sc., Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH