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EDWARD PURDY NEY
October 28, 1920-July 9, 1996
BY ROBERT D. GEHRZ, FRANK B. MCDONALD,
AND JOHN E. NAUGLE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA regents professor emeritus
Edward! Purcly Ney was a gifted, cleclicatec! scientist en c!
teacher whose research career spanner! the perioc! from
the onset of Woric! War II through the early 1990s. He macle
important contributions to nuclear physics, cosmic-rays as-
trophysics, heliospheric studies, atmospheric sciences, en c!
infrarec! astronomy. Throughout his career, he chose to be
at the frontier en c! to work in emerging fielcis of science,
accompanies! by a small, clevotec! group that incluclec! col-
leagues, technicians, engineers, en c! graduate students. As
a field! clevelopec! en c! became more crowclecI, he sought a
new en c! often very different research frontier, while re-
maining securely anchorec! to the University of Minnesota
from 1947 onward. Ney pioneered the clevelopment of so-
phisticatec! particle detector systems, inclucling clouc! cham-
bers en c! scintillation counters, for studies at the top of the
atmosphere. He flew the first space science experiment on
NASA manner! flight, Gemini 5, en c! founclec! the O'Brien
Observatory in Minnesota, where he clevelopec! new Dewar
en c! bolometer technology to make some of the early obser
vations in infrarec! astronomy. He participates! in the semi
269
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
nal discovery of heavy nuclei in the galactic cosmic radia-
tion.
Together with Nick Woolf, he shower! that silicate en c!
carbon grains, the buckling blocks of the planets, form in
circumstelIar shells arounc! aging stars. He was an excellent
teacher, particularly at the unclergracluate level. Ney liver!
his life and conducted his research with an unconventional
flair en c! frankness. Ney relentlessly sought truth en c! took
clelight in challenging authority en c! the conventional wis-
clom when he believer! they were wrong. He spoke out force-
fully, not only on scientific issues but also on his fellow
scientists, the space program, his university, the nation's
nuclear policy, en c! governance of the National Academy of
ret ~
sciences.
THE EARLY YEARS
Ney was born on October 2S, 1920, in Minneapolis, Min-
nesota, the son of Otto Fret! en c! {essamine Purcly Ney en c!
was raiser! in Waukon, Iowa, a small farm town in the north-
east corner of Iowa, IS miles west of the Mississippi River.
Ecl's father was a stern clisciplinarian who traveler! frequently
selling farm supplies. His mother was partially disabled by
an attack of polio in her youth. She finisher! two years of
junior college en c! taught kindergarten in Waukon. Their
mother react to Ec! en c! his voun~er sister Nancy, nurturing
love ot learning. in the eighth grade, Ed
and a friend started and produced a school newspaper. By
the time he reacher! high school, according to his sister
Nancy, Ec! hac! clevelopec! a strong interest in science, math,
and girls. The local high school had a well-rounded science
curriculum, which provided Ed with courses in general sci-
ence, zoology, chemistry, and physics. He was especially in-
fluencec! by Howarc! Moffitt, who taught several of his courses
en c! later became an administrator at the University of Iowa.
J O
· · · 1 1 r 1 · T ,1
t. heir curiosity ana
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
271
Ec! was clisciainfuT of other courses en c! confiner! his reacI-
ing mainly to science en c! to his special hobby, photogra-
phy. Nevertheless, he developed a mastery of the English
language that was reflected! in his writing, in his ability to
spot grammatical en c! spelling errors in his students' the-
ses, en c! especially, in the eclicts en c! pronouncements that
came clown from Minnesota's cleans en c! higher authorities.
One of Ney's early clashes with authority en c! conven-
tional wisclom occurrec! in high school. His focus on phys-
ics, math, en c! chemistry to the apparent detriment of his
other more routine studies clic! not unclear him to the prin-
cipal, who informer! Ney that "nobody who ever gracluatec!
from Waukon High School has ever clone anything in sci-
ence en c! neither will you." Ney vowel! to prove him wrong.
In 193S, at the age of eighteen, Ney enterer! the Univer-
sity of Minnesota. In 1940 he took a class from Alfrec! O. C.
Nier. During the course, he asker! if he conic! play arounc!
with one of Nier's oscilloscopes. Ney's ability and enthusi-
asm so impressed Nier that he hirer! the twenty-year-oic!
Ney to make mass spectrometer measurements of carbon
clioxicle samples, in which the ratio of i3C /~2C hac! been
increasec! by passage of the CO2 through a thermal cliffu-
sion column set up in an abanclonec! elevator shaft. Nier,
ever careful of the use of his research funcis, pair! Ney thirty-
five cents per hour. At a time when the use of radioactive
tracers was just beginning, chemists en c! biologists user! the
i3C-rich CO2 for metabolism studies en c! as a tracer for
photosynthesis.
John Barcleen, then a young assistant professor at Minne-
sota, theoretically calculates! the expecter! enrichment from
the thermal diffusion column. As Ec! clescribec! it in his
notes:
Bardeen's calculation and my measurement disagreed by a factor of two.
We were getting too much i3C . Bardeen shook his head and went back to
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
the office for a week to try again. This calculation was not elegant physics
like the BCS theory of superconductivity. It involved convection and messy
assumptions. However, John was convinced there was a problem and finally
Al Nier asked me to describe the power measurement. The columns were
fed by an autotransformer and, when I measured the power to one, I had
disconnected the other. Bardeen was right, and I took an electrical engi-
neering course. The primary lesson was that John Bardeen was one smart
guy. After World War II he went to Bell Labs and won his first Nobel Prize.
At the very beginning of the U.S. program to develop the
atomic bomb, Al Nier hac! proclucec! a 0.~-microgram sepa-
ratec! sample of 235U en c! 238U, which hac! been user! to
show that 235U was the isotope that underwent slow neu-
tron fission as preclictec! by Bohr en c! Wheeler. In micI-1940,
Nier was asker! by the Uranium Committee to separate a 5-
microgram sample Of 235U for the determination of nuclear
cross-sections en c! neutron production rates. Nier clesignec!
a new mass spectrometer, which Ney en c! another uncler-
graduate, Robert Thompson, kept going twenty-four hours
a clay for three months to produce the requires! sample.
Nier then undertook the design en c! clevelopment of a spe-
cial mass spectrometer for the analysis of processed UFO.
With the assistance of Ney, Mark Inghram, ant! the
clepartment's machine shop they proclucec! three instruments
in six months. These were to become the key assay instru-
ments user! by the Manhattan Project to measure the en-
richment of uranium proclucec! by the different separation
methods then under development at Oak Ridge, Columbia,
the Naval Research Laboratory, and the University of Vir-
ginia. Out of this collaboration, Alfrec! O. C. Nier en c! EcI-
warc! P. Ney former! a very close personal en c! professional
friendship that lasted until Nier's death in 1995.
On June 20, 1942, just after graduating from the Univer-
sity of Minnesota with a bachelor of science degree in phys-
ics, Ney marries! June Felsing. June hac! caught Ecl's atten-
tion at a dance during their undergraduate years at the
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
273
university. When she mentionec! that she was taking a phys-
ics course taught by the department chairman, Ec! asker!
her what her gracle was. Hearing "A," Ec! was impressed,
but skeptical. Ever the careful scientist, he checkoc! her
record, fount! she hac! incleec! gotten an "A," en c! promptly
began courting. Their union laster! until his cleath en c! pro-
clucec! daughter Jucly en c! sons John, Arthur, en c! William.
Shortly after their marriage, the Neys moved from Min-
neapolis to Charlottesville, Virginia. Ney took along one of
Nier's new mass spectrometers en c! became the mass spec-
trometer specialist assignee! by the Manhattan Project to
work with Jesse Beams at the University of Virginia. He also
enrollee! as a graduate student in the Physics Department.
Beam's group, a part of the Manhattan Project, was investi-
gating the feasibility of using centrifuges to enrich uranium.
Ney user! the assay instrument clevelopec! at Minnesota to
analyze the uranium samples proclucec! by centrifuging at
Virginia en c! also those proclucec! by thermal diffusion at
the Naval Research Laboratory. The Virginia centrifuges
were very promising as pilot moclels, en c! Stanciarc! Oil of
New Jersey began developing a production facility. Because
this effort clic! not go well, General Groves came to
Charlottesville in 1944 en c! closet! clown the Virginia pro
gram. (Many years later centrifuging became the most en-
ergy-efficient way to produce moderate amounts of enricher!
uranium). Ec! then worker! with his Virginia colleagues cle-
veloping circuits en c! systems for gun control on naval ships
en c! the guidance of small missiles. He maintainer! a life-
long interest in en c! concern about nuclear weapons.
For his Ph.D. thesis, which was cIassifiecI, Ney measurer!
the self-cliffusion coefficient of UFO. This constant was an
important number, because knowlecige of it, as well as the
self-cliffusion coefficient en c! the viscosity, determines the
molecular force law en c! predicts the thermal diffusion co
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
efficient. It turner! out that UFO molecules have an inverse
fifth power law of force for which the thermal diffusion
coefficient is zero.
In 1944 their daughter Jucly was born en c! two years later
their son John. In 1946 the University of Virginia awarclec!
Ney a Ph.D. Four years earlier, Ney hac! arriver! in Virginia,
a self-assurec! new college graduate who appearec! much
younger than his twenty-one years but whose research expe-
rience aIreacly extenclec! beyonc! that of many fresh Ph.D.s.
In only four years, he hac! worker! more than full-time on
the Manhattan Project en c! other clefense-relatec! efforts,
juggler! graduate courses, written a Ph.D. thesis, en c! won
the admiration en c! respect of his colleagues at Virginia
en c! the Naval Research Laboratory. The University of Vir-
ginia asker! him to join their faculty as an assistant profes
sor.
THE COSMIC RAY AND SKYHOOK BALLOON ERA
In 1946, with the enc! of the war, it was time to seek new
research frontiers. Ney taught a course baser! on Heisenberg's
book Cosmic Radiation en c! cleciclec! to shift his field! of re-
search from mass spectroscopy to cosmic-ray studies. Ney,
Jesse Beams, en c! Lelanc! Swocicly began an unclergrounc!
experiment in the Endless Caverns near New Market, Vir-
ginia. While waiting to get substantial results, Ney wrote a
theoretical paper on the cascade component of cosmic ra-
cliation. According to Ney, the paper, while not very pro-
founcI, caught the eye of John T. Tate, editor of Physical
Review and professor of physics at the University of Minne-
sota. Tate was looking for bright young physicists to start a
project to stucly cosmic rays with the air! of large plastic
balloons inventec! by lean Piccarc! en c! manufacturer! by the
General Mills Research Laboratories in Minneapolis. Tate
offerer! Ney an assistant professorship at the University of
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
275
Minnesota, which Ney promptly accepted. Although there
is no documentary evidence, Ecl's mentor Alfrec! O. C. Nier
probably played a role in the return of his young prodigy.
In 1947 the Neys en c! their two chiTciren returnee! to Min-
neapolis. Except for a sabbatical in Australia en c! two one-
quarter leaves of absence, Ney spent the rest of his life at
the University of Minnesota.
In ~ 947 Ney, together with Ec! Lofgren en c! Frank
Oppenheimer, former! the Minnesota cosmic-ray group en c!
began to use nuclear emulsions en c! clouc! chambers for
studies of cosmic rays. Soon, Phyllis Freier joiner! the team
as a graduate student. Together they pioneered the use of
balloon-borne clouc! chambers en c! nuclear emulsions. For
the first time it became possible to stucly the nature of the
primary cosmic rays at the top of the atmosphere. This
effort pair! off in 194S, when, in a joint balloon flight with
Bernarc! Peters en c! Helmut L. Bracit of the University of
Rochester, they cliscoverec! "heavy" particles in the cosmic
racliation. Their ciata shower! that cosmic rays are not elec-
tromagnetic racliation at all. Instead, they are high-energy
nuclei of the elements stripper! of their electrons. When
astrophysicists fount! that the primary cosmic racliation con-
sistec! of elements from hydrogen through iron en c! that
their relative abundances were similar to those cleclucec!
from astrophysical studies, they reaTizec! the studies of cos-
mic racliation couIc! play a major role in astrophysics, as
well as in unclerstancling the origin en c! transport of ener-
getic particles in the galaxy. Fifty years later it remains a
very active research fielcI.
Shortly after this major discovery, there were significant
changes of personnel in the original cosmic-ray group. First,
Lofgren left to supervise the construction of the Berkeley
bevatron. Next, the university forcer! Oppenheimer to re-
sign, because he hac! conceaTec! his pre-war membership in
1
1 · r ,1 1 , , · 1 r ,1
1
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
the Communist Party. From 1949 through 1962, Ney lee!
the cosmic-ray group. In 1949 John R. Winckler joiner! the
Physics Department. Previously he hac! been at Princeton,
where he hac! been carrying out cosmic-ray studies at bal-
loon altitudes. The university appointed Ney associate pro-
fessor in 1950. A seconc! son, Arthur, was born on Septem-
ber 10, 1951, en c! a third, William, on August 9, 1952. In
955 Ney became a full professor.
Meanwhile, Charles CritchfielcI, a theoretical physicist at
Minnesota, became concernec! about the lack of electrons
in the cosmic racliation. He notes! that if all the particles
were positively charger! then the Sun itself shouIc! charge
up in about a year en c! repel the positive cosmic rays. As we
know today, this iclea is incorrect, but it stimulates! Ney en c!
Sophia Oleksa, a graduate student, to concluct a series of
clouc! chamber flights using both horizontal en c! vertical
leac! plates to try to measure the flux of electrons. Although
they clic! observe electron showers, the number of events
they observer! conic! be explainec! as the result of the clecay
of pi mesons proclucec! in the material above the chamber
en c! their subsequent clecay into gamma rays. Although Ney
en c! Oleksa clic! not detect electrons in the primary raclia-
tion, they clic! set an upper limit on the electron flux of
about I% of the primary particles with energies above ~
GeV. Ten years later, when James Ear! en c! Peter Meyer
inclepenclently measurer! the flux of primary electrons they
fount! the flux to be only slightly below the limit set by
Critchfield, Ney, and Oleksa.
In 1950 Ney shifter! from clouc! chambers to scintillation
counters and made one of the first measurements of the
abundance of the elements using a scintillation counter.
Shortly thereafter Ney en c! other cosmic-ray physicists be-
came frustrated with a number of unexplained failures of
large plastic balloons. In one celebrated case, a graduate
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
277
stuclent's payloac! separatec! from its parachute, free fell
from high altitucle, en c! crasher! through the roof of an
Iowa farmhouse. As a result, Ney, Winckler, en c! Critchfielc!
undertook a high-priority, ciassifiec! military project, sup-
ported jointly by the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to improve
performance of high-altitucle balloons en c! to clevelop a sys-
tem that conic! photograph military installations in the So-
viet Union. Ultimately, this became a multimillion-clolIar
project involving some thirty-five people. In late 1955, after
the clevelopment of the U2 aircraft, the Air Force en c! sub-
sequently the Army abruptly withdrew their support, since
they no longer neeclec! balloon-borne surveillance. In Au-
gust 1956 the project closet! clown. A number of techniques
clevelopec! in this research program, such as the duct ap-
penclix, super-pressure tetroon, en c! the natural shape bal-
Toon, continue to be user! for cosmic-ray en c! atmospheric
research, both here en c! abroad. Funcling from the Office
of Naval Research continuccI, making it possible for Ney
en c! his graduate students to concluct an extensive atmo-
spheric research program that resultec! in eight Ph.D. the-
ses. As Ney observer! in his research notes, this return to
science was a blessing that lee! to many significant clevelop
ments:
John Kroening studied atmospheric small ions, invented a chemilumines-
cent ozone detector, and did a seminal study of atmospheric ozone. John
Gergen designed the "black ball" and studied atmospheric radiation bal-
ance, culminating in a national series of radiation soundings in which a
majority of the weather bureau stations took part. Jim Rosen studied aero-
sols with an optical coincidence counter, which was so good it still has not
been improved; he was the first to discover thin laminar layers of dust in
the stratosphere and to identify the source as volcanic eruptions. Ted Pepin
participated in photographic observations from balloon platforms, and has
subsequently carried this interest further with optical observations of the
Earth's limb from satellites.
As the balloon project wounc! clown, Ney also began to
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
work more closely with the emulsion group, which at the
time consistec! of Phyllis Freier en c! several graduate stu-
clents. Uncler Ney's leaclership, Peter Fowler of the Bristol
emulsion group spent the 1956-57 academic year at Minne-
sota. In a joint effort, the two groups systematically mea-
surec! the flux of alpha particles as a function of energy
en c! fount! that it reacher! a maximum at about 300 MeV/
nucleon. Later, cluring the International Geophysical Year,
Ney, Winckler, en c! Freier applier! techniques clevelopec! in
the balloon program to keep a balloon in the air continu-
ously cluring a perioc! of intense solar activity. They ob-
servec! protons from the Sun cluring several solar flares. In
November 1960, cluring a giant solar flare, the Minnesota
group measurer! a flux of solar protons that exceeclec! the
normal cosmic flux by a factor of 10,000. An astronaut in
space beyonc! the magnetosphere wouic! have receiver! an
exposure of about 60 roentgens, or about a tenth of the
lethal close. Observing that the flux of galactic cosmic rays
increaser! by a factor of three cluring the perioc! of mini-
mum solar activity, Ney proposed that this variation would
lead to a variation in the ion density in the atmosphere and
that this might prove to be a connection between solar
activity en c! the weather.
Still in search of the elusive electrons in cosmic raclia-
tion, Ney en c! Paul Kellogg, a theoretical physicist at Min-
nesota, proposer! that an appreciable fraction of the visible
light in the solar corona came from synchrotron racliation
of high-energy electrons spiraling about solar magnetic lines
of force. Their theory preclictec! a non-raclial component of
polarization in the light of the corona. They set out to
check their theory cluring the 1959 eclipse of the Sun. First
there were formiciable logistics problems to solve. In a little
over two years, they prepared a proposal, obtained funding
of $60,000, built three instruments, and flew from Minne
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
279
apolis to French West Africa in an ancient DC4. There they
set up instruments at three sites along the path of the eclipse.
During the eclipse, goof! ciata were obtainer! at two sites,
but the thirc! was clouclec! over. The measurements clisprovec!
Ney and Kellogg's theory, for they showed that the light of
the corona came from Thomson scattering as postulates! by
solar physicists, not from synchrotron racliation. Although
this result was a disappointment, the work lee! to the clevel-
opment of cameras en c! polarimeters that Ney en c! his stu-
clents later user! to stucly clim, diffuse sources of light. Two
clecacles later, Ney participates! in another eclipse expecli-
tion to observe the solar corona in the infrared. Later he
commentec! on the differences between the two expeditions:
Although the overall support for science was less, then it was possible for a
university group to conceive and carry out an expedition. In 1980 we par-
ticipated in the National Science Foundation's expedition to observe the
eclipse in India. It was like a Boy Scout outing with administrators and
managers, and even a doctor. But it wasn't much fun, and it cost a lot
more.
The coronal experiment stimulates! Ney's interest in clim,
diffuse sources of light in astrophysics. He undertook to
unclerstanc! the origin en c! nature of the zocliacal light. He
en c! his students flew cameras en c! polarimeters, clevelopec!
for the coronal experiment, on balloons, Mercury en c! Gemini
flights, en c! two orbiting solar observatories. These flights
shower! that the zocliacal light was highly polarizecI, of con-
stant or slowly varying intensity, en c! that it was proclucec!
by the scattering of sunlight from crust grains. As the first
scientist to fly an experiment on a NASA manner! space
flight program, Ney spent a good deal of time briefing the
astronauts in the Moorheac! Planetarium in Chapel Hill.
Ney fount! it fun to get to know the astronauts, but he
thought conducting research on a manner! spacecraft a hare!
way to clo science.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Although Ney clesignec! instruments for an Orbiting So-
lar Observatory to study the zocliacal light cluring the por-
tion of the orbit when the satellite was in the ciark, the
instruments conic! also be user! to study light sources on
Earth. Ney obtainer! a completely unexpected result when
he observer! thousands of terrestrial lightning flashes en c!
fount! that there were ten times as many flashes over the
lane! as over the ocean. As yet, no satisfactory explanation
of this observation exists.
In 1963 Ney cleciclec! to change from physics to astronomy.
He presented his final paper on cosmic rays at the Pontifi-
cal Academy in Rome while on his way to Australia to stucly
astronomy with Hanbury Brown en c! Richarc! Twiss. Upon
his return to Minnesota, in collaboration with two graduate
students, Fret! Gillette en c! Wayne Stein, Ney enterer! the
emerging fielc! of infrarec! astronomy, a fielc! suitable to his
pioneering instinct. At that time, there were only two infra-
red astronomers, Frank Low, then at Rice University, and
Gerry Neugebauer at Caltech. With good students, a highly
qualified support group, and his own exceptional physical
insight and great experimental skills, Ney soon had Minne-
sota at the frontier of this new research fielcI. To make
infrarec! observations, he founclec! the O'Brien Observa-
tory and equipped it with a 30-inch infrared telescope. Later,
he helpec! to design the 60-inch infrarec! telescope for the
Mount Lemmon Observing Facility in Arizona. As a result
of their infrarec! observations, Ney en c! Nick Woolf shower!
that silicate and carbon grains form circumstellar shells
around aging stars. As Ney noted at the time, in a cosmol-
ogy dominated by hydrogen and helium, it was a relief to
find the source of the material that forms the terrestrial
planets.
After his retirement, Ney took up yet another field! of
research: the effect of radioactivity from raclon gas on the
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
28
atmosphere. He thought that the ionization from raclon
wouIc! produce a higher level of ionization in the atmo-
sphere over lane! that conic! account for the higher levels of
lightning over lancI, comparer! to those over the ocean.
Unfortunately, Ney's cleath prevented the completion of this
work.
Ney Tovec! to teach. He hac! a special gift for using novel
demonstration equipment to illustrate physics. His awarcI-
winning, animates! lectures, liberally lacer! with hilarious
wisecracks en c! anecdotes, gave thousands of students in his
introductory courses the opportunity to experience the ex-
citement of working at the cutting ecige of science. Beneath
the wisecracks en c! the jokes, students fount! a man with an
absolute, steely insistence on honesty in academic en c! re-
search work.
In 1961 he lecturer! in the clepartment's first honors course
in moclern physics. These lectures were turner! into "Ney's
Notes on Relativity." The next year he contractor! hepatitis
on a trip abroad. Insteac! of quietly recuperating, he user!
the time at home to turn these notes into a book, Electro-
magnetism and Relativity (New York: Harper en c! Rowe, 1962) .
He receiver! the University of Minnesota's outstanding teach-
ing aware! in 1964.
Ney's enthusiasm en c! charisma attractor! goof! graduate
students to his program. He encouragec! them to select their
own thesis topic en c! to concluct their research with a mini-
mum of direction from him. He believer! this proclucec! a
better en c! more mature Ph.D. Sixteen students receiver!
their Ph.D. uncler Ney. His methods proclucec! high-quality
students. Twice, the position of NASA chief scientist was
Filly! by former students of Ney. Another student helpec!
establish the Stratoscope Program at Princeton, en c! two
students constructed! one of the worIcl's largest infrarec! tele-
scopes at Jelm Mountain, Wyoming. One former student is
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Ney's ca-
reer demonstrates that great research scientists can, en c!
clo, like to teach.
A major reason for Ney's success lay in his ability to at-
tract, stimulate, en c! direct superb engineers en c! techni-
cians. He macle them full partners in his research en c! when
they contributes! in a substantial way to a project, he in-
cluclec! them as co-authors of the resulting papers.
Ney's interest en c! concern extenclec! beyonc! research.
He took an activist role in campus politics. He believer! that
the students, staff, en c! faculty were the heart of a strong
university en c! that the administration shouIc! serve their
interests. He also believer! in rigorous academic stanciarcis.
Once, when invites! to serve as the "outside professor" on a
Ph.D. final exam, Ney consiclerec! the thesis topic to be
trivial, not worthy of a Ph.D., en c! he refuses! to approve the
thesis. Ney then severely criticizer! the professor who hac!
approved the topic and supervised the work.
Ney clic! not limit his contributions to the academic arena.
As a citizen he maintainer! a lifelong concern about the
impact of science on public policy. He frequently contrib-
utec! letters en c! articles to local eclitorial pages on atomic
energy, nuclear weapons, the space program, and the envi-
ronment. In later years he became cleeply concerned! about
the proliferation of nuclear weapons en c! the possibility of
their use by terrorists.
Edward! P. Ney was electec! to the National Academy of
Sciences in 1971 en c! the American Academy of Arts en c!
Sciences in 1979. In 1975 NASA awarded him its Excep-
tional Scientific Achievement Medal. In 1964 the University
of Minnesota awarclec! him the university's Outstanding Teach-
ing Award. Subsequently, in 1974 the university bestowed
on him its highest honor, a Regent's Professorship.
As unconventional in his dress as in his work, Ney's red,
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EDWARD PURDY NEY
283
high-top tennis shoes graces! many a formal function, in-
clucling a National Academy of Sciences garden party en c!
black-tie clinner. Ney likes! goof! cars en c! he likes! to drive
them fast. In the late 1940s he chaser! balloons in a Tow,
black, streamlinec! Hucison that cruiser! at 90 miles per hour.
He next bought a convertible that traveler! even faster. Later,
with proceeds from the sale of his book Relativity and Elec-
tromagnetism, Ney bought his ultimate automobile, a pow-
cler-blue Jaguar XKE. Returning from a night's observing at
the O'Brien Observatory, Ney concluctec! an experiment to
see how large a fine he wouIc! get if he exceeclec! the 65-
miles-per-hour speec! limit by a factor of two. Unfortunately,
the experiment proviclec! a null result, the Minnesota State
Highway Patrol failed to appear.
In his later years, Ney sufferer! from ventricular tachycar-
clia, a conclition in which the ventricles of the heart con-
tract at a high frequency en c! which can cause cleath in a
short time. Frustratec! with his cloctor's inability to control
the arrhythmia, Ney began to stucly carcliology. He turner!
the full force of his research talent on himself en c! his clis-
ease. He searcher! the literature, en c! became convincer!
that the best way to control the disease requires! a pace-
maker that conic! be commanclec! to sent! pulses to the heart
at a higher rate than the tachycarclia. This action enablec!
the pacemaker to capture the rhythm of the heart so that,
when the cloctor sIowoc! the frequency of the pacemaker's
pulses, it brought the heart back to its normal rhythm. Ney's
last (unpublishecI) paper, "A Physicist's History of Pacing
en c! Shocking in the Treatment of Recurrent Sustainer! Mono-
morphic Ventricular Tachycarclia, ~975-]995," gave the his-
tory of his illness en c! clocumentec! the results of his re-
search. Ney's last battle with authority was with his carcliologist.
Ney wan tee! to carry the "black box" that controller! the
clefibrillator with him so that if he hac! an attack of ven
OCR for page 284
284
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
tricular tachycarclia, he conic! sent! the clefibrillation com-
mancI. Conventional wisclom hell! that the patient must be
brought to a hospital for treatment by a registered carcli-
ologist. Unfortunately, authority en c! conventional wisdom
finally won a battle with Edward! P. Ney. He cliec! at his
home in Minneapolis on July 9, 1996.
He is survived by June, his wife of fifty-four years, and
their four chilciren {ucly, John, Arthur, en c! William, a sister
Nancy Braum of Atlanta, en c! nine grancichilciren. On July
16, 1996, several huncirec! people, inclucling friencis, family,
his carcliologist, colleagues, en c! former students attenclec! a
joyful memorial celebration in his honor at the University
of Minnesota.
OCR for page 285
EDWARD PURDY NEY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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285
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:1
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
cosmic rays
