Obituary of Dwight H. Damon

Dwight H. Damon, 75, emeritus professor of physics, died on Sept. 15, 2006 in Decatur, GA, after a short illness. He was a resident of Storrs, CT, from 1970 to 2005, when he and his wife, June, moved to Decatur.

Born in Northampton, MA, he grew up in neighboring Amherst, and graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in physics in 1953. He was a member of Theta Xi fraternity and the scholarly honorary societies Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. Dwight was a loyal alumnus of Amherst, returning frequently for homecoming football games and class reunions. He was particularly proud that both of his daughters graduated from Amherst as well.

Damon then went to Purdue University for his graduate studies under Professor A.N. Gerritsen, measuring the magnetic susceptibility of weakly-interacting donors in germanium. A hydrogen explosion next to their laboratory required everything to be rebuilt and delayed the completion of Dwight’s research by at least two years. He received his Ph.D. in 1961. While at Purdue he married June M. Olson, a graduate student in chemistry, on May 29, 1955. June received her Ph.D. soon after. The family moved to Pittsburgh when Dwight joined the Westinghouse Research Laboratory.

He first worked with one of us (Paul Klemens) on the thermal conductivity of vitreous silica over a wide temperature range and various thermal treatments. Later work was on conduction properties of metals and semimetals, some in collaboration with R.C. Miller and A. Sagar, included scattering of phonons by vacancies, phonon resonances of solute atoms and phonon-assisted impurity scattering in gold alloys.

In 1970 Dwight came to the Physics Department of the University of Connecticut to strengthen the Low Temperature Laboratory of Professor Charles Reynolds. In addition to continuing some of Reynolds’ projects, Dwight also measured the lattice thermal conductivity of aluminum and copper alloys at cryogenic temperatures. The aluminum work has since become significant as well for the high temperature conduction properties of aluminum and its alloys.

Damon was known as a meticulous and careful experimenter. He had strong opinions on how laboratory work should be planned to exclude night work as much as possible, and how safety should receive priority, including, of course hydrogen safety. He became Assistant Director of the Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut (IMS: 1980 - 83) and Associate Director of the IMS Electrical Insulation Research Center (1983-85). Besides his administrative duties and his teaching, he did research on electrical conduction in polymers, on space-charge formation, and on dielectric breakdown in insulators, notably with Profs. M. Mashikian and J. Tanaka. Damon helped develop the Polymer Program at IMS and implemented the Polymer Program curriculum in polymer physics. He spent time with groups in Denmark and Germany, and was Historian of the Electrical Insulation Society until his retirement in 1997.

In addition to their scientific work, Dwight and June were very interested and widely read in contemporary affairs. They participated in local politics, and helped to discuss and clarify environmental issues. His many friends and classmates will remember Dwight as a warm and enthusiastic person, with a broad curiosity about the world. He was never reticent about expressing his opinions and enjoyed debate and discussion with others, particularly on politics and education, as well on broad questions in physics and the philosophy of science.

In addition to his wife June, Dwight is survived by his daughter, Candace Perry Damon, her husband, David Jacobson and their son, Otis, and by his daughter Inger Kristina Damon, and her husband, Gregory Armstrong. Inger and Greg are physicians, both employed by the Center for Disease Control, residing in Decatur, GA. Candace and David are in the field of law and reside in Brooklyn, NY.

An endowment in his memory (The Dwight Hills Damon Graduate Fellowship in Experimental Physics) has been set up. Donations may be made by contacting the Physics Department at the University of Connecticut.