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Norman C. Rasmussen (November 12, 1927 – July 18, 2003) was an American
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
.


Biography

Rasmussen was born in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
. He grew up on a dairy farm as the fifth of six brothers. He attended public school in Hershey, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was in eighth grade, and his family moved to Gettysburg, where his grandparents helped to care for the family. Rasmussen graduated from high school in June, 1945 and enlisted in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. He was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training school, where he became an electronics technician. He served on active duty until August, 1946, when he was honorably discharged. Norm enrolled in Gettysburg College in the fall of 1946, using the GI bill to finance his tuition. He majored in Physics, and studied under Professor George Reich Miller, who encouraged Norm to go to Graduate School. At Gettysburg he also met his future wife, Thalia Tichenor. They married in 1952. He graduated from Gettysburg College cum laude in 1950 and enrolled as a graduate student in the Physics Department at
MIT 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 mo ...
. He worked for Professor Robley Evans in the Radioactivity Center, which Evans had created and led. The work was concerned with the field of experimental low-energy nuclear physics, including the determination of nuclear energy levels, radiation dosimetry, and the biological effects of radiation. He worked as a teaching assistant for Professor Evans' two semester undergraduate course "Nuclear Physics" in 1952. Rasmussen completed his Ph.D. in 1956 with the graduate thesis entitled "Standardization of Electron Capture Isotopes." After graduation, he remained in the Physics Department as an instructor. He also continued his experimental work at The Radioactivity Center. In the 1950s, the tools available for detection and measurement were relatively primitive. Norm was in the forefront of developing coincidence-counting techniques to measure decay schemes. MIT began construction of their first research reactor, led by Norm's good friend Theos J. Thompson, to be competed in 1958. That same year, Course XXII was upgraded to a full MIT academic department (previously it was a program under Chemical Engineering), Norm as invited by
Manson Benedict Manson Benedict (October 9, 1907 – September 18, 2006) was an American nuclear engineer and a professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1958 to 1968, he was the chairman of the advisory committ ...
to be one of the new department's founding assistant professors. Rasmussen was a key user of the new reactor, and participated in constructing a 6-meter bent crystal
spectrometer A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomenon where the ...
used for
gamma ray spectroscopy Gamma-ray spectroscopy is the quantitative study of the energy spectra of gamma-ray sources, such as in the nuclear industry, geochemical investigation, and astrophysics. Most radioactive sources produce gamma rays, which are of various energi ...
studies for many years. He migrated from determination of decay spectra to the use of spectra for measuring nuclear composition. This led him to a major program for the measurement of spent nuclear fuel composition, a matter of significant importance to the nuclear weapons programs where both tritium and plutonium were created in production reactors. the
International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
adopted his techniques for use in proliferation studies. His initial research concentrated on investigating radiation and gamma rays. He was the head of the nuclear engineering department from 1975 to 1981. He headed the landmark Reactor Safety Study (
WASH-1400 WASH-1400, 'The Reactor Safety Study', was a report produced in 1975 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by a committee of specialists under Professor Norman Rasmussen. It "generated a storm of criticism in the years following its release". In t ...
) in the early 1970s. This study established the formal discipline of
Probabilistic Risk Assessment Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is a systematic and comprehensive methodology to evaluate risks associated with a complex engineered technological entity (such as an airliner or a nuclear power plant) or the effects of stressors on the environm ...
(PRA), and for this he is known as the father of PRA and
Probabilistic Safety Assessment Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is a systematic and comprehensive methodology to evaluate risks associated with a complex engineered technological entity (such as an airliner or a nuclear power plant) or the effects of stressors on the environm ...
(PSA). Among his numerous honors was his election to both the
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
(1977) and the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
(1979), as well as serving a 6-year term on the National Science Board during the Reagan Administration. Professor Rasmussen won the Enrico Fermi Award for excellence in the field of nuclear energy in 1985 for his ‘pioneering contributions to nuclear energy in the development of probabilistic risk assessment techniques that have provided new insights and led to new developments in nuclear power plant safety. Perhaps his most remembered moment was his televised debate with activist Ralph Nader over the safety of nuclear power. Norm as an avid sports enthusiast, and a
Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
fan. Fellow professors at MIT tell of sneaking off with Norm to catch a game at nearby
Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...
. His skills in probability reportedly made him an excellent poker player.


Technical reference

Norman Carl Rasmussen 1927-2003, Kent F. Hansen, Biographical Memoirs, volume 86, National Academy of Sciences (2005).


References


External links

*http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/rasmussen.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20080516071118/http://www.er.doe.gov/fermi/html/Laureates/1980s/normanr.htm *http://web.mit.edu/nse {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Norman 1927 births 2003 deaths MIT Department of Physics alumni Gettysburg College alumni American nuclear engineers 20th-century American physicists Enrico Fermi Award recipients Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy sailors 20th-century American engineers