Bernard Vonnegut (August 29, 1914 – April 25, 1997) was an American

atmospheric scientist Atmospheric science is the study of the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climat ...

credited with discovering that silver iodide could be used effectively in cloud seeding to produce snow and rain. He was the older brother of American novelist

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Early life

Vonnegut was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

to architect Kurt Vonnegut Sr (November 24, 1884 – October 1, 1957), a partner in the firm of

Vonnegut, Wright & Yeager Vonnegut, Wright & Yeager was an architectural firm active in mid-twentieth-century Indiana. The firm was organized in 1946 as a partnership between the surviving partners of three Indiana firms: Kurt Vonnegut Sr. (1884–1957) of Vonnegut, ...

, and homemaker Edith Sophia Lieber (d. May 14, 1944). He was named after his grandfather, architect Bernard Vonnegut Sr, co-founder of the firm of

Vonnegut & Bohn Vonnegut & Bohn was an architectural firm in Indianapolis, Indiana in the United States. Founded in 1888 by Bernard Vonnegut Sr., FAIA (1855–1908) and Arthur Bohn (b. 1861), all the partners were German Americans and were trained in both Am ...

. He attended Park School in Indianapolis and earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in chemistry (1936) and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...

(1939) from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

."Biographical on Kurt Vonnegut, Sr."
Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy; Culver, Marshall, Indiana

Professional career

In 1945, Vonnegut started work at the

General Electric Research Laboratory General Electric Research Laboratory was the first industrial research facility in the United States. Established in 1900, the lab was home to the early technological breakthroughs of General Electric and created a research and development environm ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

. It was there, on November 14, 1946, that he discovered that silver iodide could be used as a nucleating agent to seed clouds. Seeding clouds involves inserting large quantities of a nucleating agent into clouds to facilitate the formation of

ice crystals Ice crystals are solid ice exhibiting atomic ordering on various length scales and include hexagonal columns, hexagonal plates, dendritic crystals, and diamond dust. Formation The hugely symmetric shapes are due to depositional growth, n ...

. The intent of this process is to cause the clouds to produce rain or snow. Rain- and snow-making companies still use silver iodide as a nucleating agent in seeding clouds. Vonnegut left

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

in 1952, taking a job at Arthur D. Little, Inc. In 1967, Vonnegut became a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. He was named a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

upon his retirement in 1985. In the course of his career Vonnegut accumulated 28

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s. He was awarded an

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name o ...

in 1997 for his paper "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."

Personal life

He was married to Lois Bowler Vonnegut, with whom he had five sons. She died in 1972. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on April 25, 1997, at St. Peter's Hospital in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

. His brother,

, alluded to Bernard's work in some of his works, most famously in ''

Cat's Cradle Cat's cradle is a game involving the creation of various string figures between the fingers, either individually or by passing a loop of string back and forth between two or more players. The true origin of the name is debated, though the fir ...

''.

References

External links

Genealogical Biography with photo

''The New York Times'', April 27, 1997 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vonnegut, Bernard 1914 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American chemists American meteorologists Vonnegut family Scientists from Schenectady, New York University at Albany, SUNY faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Atmospheric chemists Park Tudor School alumni Scientists from Indiana People from Indianapolis Deaths from cancer in New York (state)