Donald Hornig

Donald Hornig
14th President of Brown University
In office 1970–1976
Preceded by	Ray Heffner
Succeeded by	Howard Swearer
Personal details
Born	March 17, 1920 (1920-03-17) (age 91) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Milwaukee Country Day School Harvard University

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Donald Frederick Hornig (born March 17, 1920) is an American chemist, explosives expert, teacher and presidential science advisor. He served as president of Brown University, 1970–1976.

Hornig was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Chester Arthur Hornig and Emma Knuth. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School, then earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Harvard University.^[1] He was awarded his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1943 with a dissertation on An Investigation of the Shock Wave Produced by an Explosion in Air.^[2] On July 17, 1943 he was married to Lilli S. Hornig, who became a chemistry professor. The couple would have four children together: three girls, Joanna, Ellen, and Leslie, and one boy, Christopher.

After graduating, he started work at the Underwater Explosives Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Later he joined the Los Alamos Laboratory, where he was a participant in the Manhattan Project. He worked on the firing unit that was used for the implosion of the plutonium device.^[3]

In 1946 he joined the staff of Brown University as an assistant professor, and became a full professor in 1951. From 1951–52 he was Associate Dean of the Graduate School, then acting dean the following year. In 1957 he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the same year he moved to Princeton University in 1957. Later became chairman of the Princeton chemistry department.^[4]

Shortly before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, he announced Dr. Hornig as the presidential science advisor. Dr. Hornig assumed office on January 24, 1964, but did not enjoy good relations with the new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. He left office at the end of the president's term in 1969, and accepted an executive position with Eastman Kodak Company.^[5]

In 1970 he became president of Brown University, and he remained in office until he resigned in 1976. The end of his term was noted for financial cutbacks at the university, which was met by student protests. Thereafter he became Professor of Chemistry in Public Health at Harvard University. From 1987–90 he served the Harvard University School of Public Health as chairman of the Department of Environmental Health. He retired in 1990.^[6]

Awards and honors

• Winner of the Charles Lathrop Parsons award of the American Chemical Society, 1967.^[7]
• Honorary LL.D from Boston College, November 12, 1966.^[8]
• Honorary D.Sc. from the University of Maryland, 1965.^[9]
• Honorary D.Sc. from Syracuse University, 1968.^[10]
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Member of the American Philosophical Society.
• Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.
• Recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship.

References

1. ^ "Donald F. Hornig". Soylent Communications. http://www.nndb.com/people/756/000167255/. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
2. ^ "Donald Frederick Hornig". Mathematics Genealogy Project. http://genealogy.impa.br/id.php?id=114962. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
3. ^ Borman, Stu (July 17, 1995). "Chemists Reminisce On 50th Anniversary Of The Atomic Bomb". Chemical & Engineering News. http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/cenear/950717/art02.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Staff. "Donald Hornig". Brown University. http://www.brown.edu/Administration/President/links/presidents/hornig.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
5. ^ Boffey, PM (January 31, 1969). "The Hornig Years: Did LBJ Neglect His Science Advisor?". Science 163 (3866): 453–458. doi:10.1126/science.163.3866.453. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17731760. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/163/3866/453.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
6. ^ "Dr. Donald Hornig". Colorado University-Boulder. http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/scienceadvisors/hornig.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
7. ^ "Charles Lathrop Parsons Award". American Chemical Society. http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=1319&content_id=CTP_004498&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
8. ^ President's Office (August 5, 1996). "Honorary Degrees Awarded by Boston College 1952-1995". Boston College. http://www.bc.edu/publications/factbook/meta-elements/html/fb97honor_dg_recip.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
9. ^ Staff (June 19, 2006). "Honorary Degrees". University of Maryland Libraries. http://www.lib.umd.edu/univarchives/macmil/honorarydegrees1.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. 
10. ^ Staff (2008). "Recipient of Honorary Degrees". Archives and Records Management, Syracuse University. http://archives.syr.edu/archives/awards/honorary_2.html. Retrieved 2008-05-27. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Oral History Interview with Donald Hornig, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library

Academic offices
Preceded by Ray Heffner	President of Brown University 1970–1976	Succeeded by Howard Swearer

Persondata
Name	Hornig, Donald
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 17, 1920
Place of birth	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death