Obituary of Warren Witzig

Warren Witzig, a pioneering nuclear scientist and Penn State University professor, has died. He was 86. Witzig died June 13 at his home in State College. Witzig worked for Westinghouse Research Laboratories and Bettis Plant in Pittsburgh from 1942 to 1960, first on the Manhattan project and then serving as a senior engineer on the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered ship, in the 1950s. He was integral in the development of nuclear submarines used by the U.S. Navy. He was a co-founder in 1960 of the NUS Corp., which grew into one of the country’s largest independent group of nuclear consultants. Penn State hired Witzig in 1967 to head the nuclear engineering department, one of the first such programs in the country. He served on numerous state or local utility safety commissions and oversight boards around the country. He grew up in Ebenezer, NY, a rural community. Witzig had an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. and held graduate degrees in physics from the University of Pittsburgh.

He is survived by his wife Bernadette and four grown children.