Memorial for Dr. Ronald Lee Brodzinski
February 14, 1941 - October 31, 2006
Dr. Ronald L. Brodzinski, a long-time PNNL staff member and friend to many,
passed away unexpectedly October 31, 2006. Ron was a Laboratory
Fellow in the Radiation Detection and Nuclear Sciences Group at the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory.
Ron had been with the Lab nearly 40 years,
and in that time made incredible technical contributions to the field of nuclear
chemistry and physics. He served as a role model for many technical
staff over the years and provided significant leadership on national and
international projects.
Most recently, Ron was nominated
for the Glenn T. Seaborg Award in Nuclear Chemistry for his outstanding achievement
in science. Ron’s entire 40-year career has been spent developing
radiological instrumentation, assay techniques, and applications thereof.
He has developed and deployed numerous radiation detection devices in a
variety of field. Many of the applications required development of
specialized radiochemical separations or methods.
Dr. Brodzinski
received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Chemistry from Purdue University in 1967 and
immediately joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
In 1989 he attained the highest scientific level at PNNL, Laboratory Fellow.
Ron is a long-time member of the American Chemical Society Division of
Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, and has been active in nuclear chemistry
his entire career.
Dr. Brodzinski is a prolific contributor to the
scientific literature, authoring or co-authoring over 192 peer-reviewed
publications and 120 formal technical reports. Professor John
Wilkerson of the University of Washington notes, “I have often read and
relied on a number of seminal papers published by Ron dealing with the
subjects of characterizing and determining the radiopurity of metals.”
Dr. Brodzinski’s early work centered on the physical interactions of fast
neutrons with critical construction materials in thermonuclear reactors.
Ron was a Principal Investigator for NASA during the Apollo missions to the Moon.
He developed a unique calibration technique for the whole-body counter used
in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory to measure cosmic ray-induced radioactivities
in returning astronauts. He also developed separation and
concentration techniques for radioisotopes in biological samples to
measure the astronauts’ whole-body radiation dose received while in space.
A second part of the NASA Apollo program studies was dedicated to measuring
radon concentration in the Lunar “atmosphere” and its motion as Lunar “wind.”
Another novel measurement was reconstruction of the radiation dose delivered
by the Hiroshima bomb during World War II.
Ron also developed a unique
radiation detection tool that used scintillating glass drawn into optical
fibers to detect neutrons in a variety of applications that take advantage
of the physical conformity of the glass fibers.
Ron’s greatest technical
achievements are his developments for reducing backgrounds of radiation
detection instruments to improve sensitivity, particularly for measuring
double-beta decay. His 25-year search for neutrinoless double-beta
decay in 76GE has resulted in background reductions of six orders of magnitude
in high-resolution germanium gamma-ray spectrometers.
Ron also conceived
and pioneered the use of pulse shape analysis and signal processing to identify
source, type, and location of energy deposition events in germanium detectors.
Ron’s detector advancements enabled him to make the first direct measurement of
two-neutrino double-beta decay in 76GE, orders of magnitude longer than any
previously measured radioisotope half-life. He also made the first
direct measurement of the very rare two-neutrino double-beta decay of
100Mo.
Ron has, as Dr. Wilkerson remarked, “devoted his career to exploring
and addressing important problems in applied and fundamental science.”
He has demonstrated a passion for doing research and has established a record of
excellence. Ron has been the recipient of both a Federal Laboratory
Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer and an R&D 100 Award
(from R&D Magazine) for his radiation detector developments.
The winning of an R&D 100 Award provides a mark of excellence known to industry,
government, and academia as proof that the product is one of the innovative
ideas of the year.
Dr. Brodzinski’s career of stellar science, development,
and deployment in the field clearly illustrates his passion and excellence
as a chemist.
Ron was a lifetime member of the Masonic Family
including being a Senior DeMolay, past Worshipful Master, Past Grand Junior Deacon,
33 Degree, Inspector General Honorary Scottish Rite Mason, Member of the Royal
Order of Scotland, and Member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine. His Masonic family provided him the opportunity to be
altruistic for the childhood language disorder foundation.
Ron’s personal life
involved raising four children with his wife Jo, Belinda, Eric, Kirk, and Brett.
Together they were involved in Little League Baseball, American League Softball,
Miss America Softball, and AAU Swimming. He and the family became avid
Tri-City Americans hockey fans, attending the games as a family, sharing with their
friends Ned and Nancy Wogman and Rush and Donna Campbell. He was an
avid hunter, and a lifetime member of the NRA. Ron will be remembered
as a husband, father, grandfather, scientist, colleague, and friend.
For the past 22 years, Ron and his family have run Seth Ryan Winery and have been
involved with promoting the Columbia and Yakima Valley activities, most recently
working to be involved with the development of the Red Mountain Estates Association.
Ron and Jo have traveled the world together, enjoying fine wines, food and friendship.
Ron is survived by his wife Jo Brodzinski; daughter, Belinda McNabb (Troy); son,
Kirk Brodzinski; grandchildren, Amber Star McNabb, Erica Brodzinski, Sandra Downey,
and Spencer Ryan Brodzinski. He was preceded in death by sons Frank Evan,
Eric Vincent and Brett Ryan Brodzinski; parents Jean and Harry Brodzinski; grandson
Walter Donald McNabb.