Obituary of William E. Parkins

William Edward Parkins, a pioneering contributor to initiation and implementation of nuclear power science and technology, died from pancreatic cancer at his home in Woodland Hills, California, on 30 September 2005. His career spanned individual research in basic physics and management of major engineering development in both academic and industrial settings.

Born in Bozeman, Montana, on 1 March 1916, Bill graduated from Montana State College with the degree Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1937. At Cornell University, as McMullen Research Scholar in Engineering and as Research Assistant in Physics, he conducted engineering research utilizing techniques of high speed photography, photo-elasticity and electron physics, being awarded the Ph.D. degree in physics at Cornell in 1942. Bill married Alice Baird in 1948, and they are survived by three daughters and 2 grandchildren.

As Research Associate at the Radiation Laboratory of the University of California, under direction of E. O. Lawrence in the wartime Manhattan Project, Bill made key contributions in development of quantity electromagnetic separation of uranium isotopes. He contributed to the design and early operation of the Calutron plant at Oak Ridge Tennessee, as reviewed by him in PHYSICS TODAY, May 2005. From 1946 to 1948, as Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, he continued investigations in gaseous electronics and in development and use of ion sources for various purposes.

Beginning in 1948, Bill joined the staff of the group at North American Aviation, Inc., under the leadership of Chauncey Starr, which grew to become its Atomics International Division. Initially Bill conducted and directed pioneering basic physical research on the effects of nuclear radiation on the properties of reactor materials. As Group Leader he directed work in experimental physics, metallurgy and neutron physics, as well as engineering design and analysis. In 1953-1960, as Chief of Engineering, he was responsible for the design and implementation of the Sodium Reactor Experiment (SRE) and the Organic Moderated Reactor Experiment (OMRE) demonstrations that were among the first nuclear reactors to produce megawatts of electric power in the US and that led to subsequent production and operation of full scale nuclear power plants at Hallam, Nebraska, and Piqua, Ohio. From 1960 to his retirement in 1981, as Associate Technical director, Director of Research and Technology and Manager of Component Engineering&Technology, Bill was responsible for research and development directed toward new applications of the sciences of physics, chemistry and metallurgy, including pollution control, energy conversion, power transmission, new materials and novel nuclear reactor concepts.

In retirement Bill continued to act on long-held professional beliefs. Throughout his career he saw the need for engineers to have a better understanding of underlying physical principles and for physicists to acquire the practical perspective required of engineers. Accordingly, he established the William E. Parkins Engineering-Physics Award at Montana State University to encourage MSU students to study across the disciplines by recognizing and rewarding students with the top grade point averages in engineering, math and physics courses. Also, Bill became deeply concerned about the US fusion power program, as he described in SCIENCE 199 (1978) and PHYSICS TODAY (March 1997), when that program failed to adequately recognize the seemingly insurmountable engineering obstacles preventing achievement of an economically feasible fusion power plant even if scientific feasibility eventually is demonstrated. During his 90th and final year Bill not only published the article on Calutron development in PHYSICS TODAY, but in his final hours, literally, he composed a response to letters published in PHYSICS TODAY (November 2005) and had an article opposing the US fusion power program accepted for publication in a major scientific journal.

Bill was a member of numerous professional and academic societies and was a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society and the American Physical Society. He was a member of several government-sponsored committees and international delegations.

Bill had a great love of Nature and reverence for its congruence with scientific philosophy. He and his family spent much time hiking and camping in the high country of the West. As in his work, his ventures in the mountains and the deserts frequently had him leaving the beaten path in favor of uncharted routes in seldom-visited areas. All who knew him encountered and respected his staunch quest and persevering defense of truth in science and engineering. He did not hesitate to take the time to fully acquaint an uninformed person, young or old, with the physical principles underlying that truth, or to debate the knowledgeable ones who might challenge it. He had an unforgettable presence and bearing, especially for those who had witnessed a performance of his Spanish dancing at which he excelled. His greatest legacy may be, among the many young scientists and engineers he directed and befriended, the role model he provided for them as a dedicated rigorous-thinking physicist and engineer.