Edward
N. Strait, Jr.
October 26, 1919 - November 12, 1991
Ed Strait was a physicist, a teacher, a pacifist, a Quaker, a tinkerer, a
perfectionist and, most importantly, my dad. The older I get, the more I want to be like
him. (My wife says it's a good thing she liked my dad!)
My dad in his lab at Macalester College (photo by Sherman Schultz). This photo shows dad
with his linear accelerator. Yes, the target chamber was made from a cooking pot!
- What can this little fur thing be?
- For crying out loud!
- Discretion is the better part of valor.
From Mom:
- Go head over teacup.
- There are some things you'll never know.
From my brother Ted:
- Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
- Mox nix. (macht nichts, German for makes no difference)
- It's all cattywampus.
- That's not quite according to Hoyle.
- Put your best foot forward, with the road a-sliding past,
And every bloomin' camping place exactly like the last.
The big bass drum with its rowdy-dowdy-dow,
Keiko kissy wartsy, doncha hamcher arjy jow.
- Ted writes: "Does anybody besides me remember this? It's obviously a marching
cadence. Maybe those CPS camps were quasi-military? It goes back to early days, but we
heard it enough that as a very little boy someone, maybe you John, used to call a drum a
'howdy-dow'."
- Little Pede,
Pedey Rude,
Rudy Whistle,
Mary Hustle,
And great big Gobble-Gobble-Gobble-Gobble!
- Ted writes: "This doesn't really fit because I don't think Dad ever said it, but I
associate it with Aunt Nellie and maybe others from his side of the family. Our kids have
learned it."
Three men who worked with my dad during the 50-some years of his career as
a physicist wrote a nice remembrance of him that was published in the April, 1993, issue
of Physics Today.
Edward N. Strait
Edward Nathan Strait died of a heart attack of 12 November 1991, at the
age of 72. He was a research professor at Macalester College, having retired from a
full-time faculty position two years earlier.
Strait graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a
bachelor's degree in physics in 1941 and immediately entered the doctoral program at MIT.
He helped build a 2-MV electron accelerator and performed electron scattering experiments
with Robert Van de Graaff, William Buechner and Herman Feshbach. In 1943, having applied
for conscientious objector status, Strait helped build a Van de Graaff accelerator for
cancer research at MIT and then spent two years in Civilian Public Service camps.
Strait returned to MIT in 1946. He earned a PhD in nuclear physics there
in 1948 and stayed on two more years as a research associate. In 1950 Strait joined the
faculty of Northwestern University, where he founded and directed the nuclear laboratory.
At Northwestern he built a 5-MV vertical Van de Graaff accelerator that could accelerate
both positive ions and electrons.
In 1965 Strait decided that he would prefer to spend more time teaching
than was possible at Northwestern, so he accepted a professorship at Macalester College.
He later served as chairman of the physics and astronomy department there. He also
established a 150-kV particle accelerator laboratory. His experimental nuclear physics
course, in which students undertook guided accelerator projects, provided a hands-on
research experience no often available to undergraduates. Another of his favorite courses
was one on modern physics, out of which grew a book he coauthored in 1978 with Sung Kyu
Kim, Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers.
in 1970-71 at Argonne National Laboratory, Strait Collaborated with Harold
E. Jackson on studies of nuclear reactions induced by gamma rays. In 1978 Strait designed
the first x-ray charge-changed beam coincidence apparatus, which he and his coworkers used
to discover the resonant transfer excitation process.
Even during his teaching years, Strait kept up with recent developments in
physics. He was an incredibly creative and gifted scientist. As a teacher he worked very
hard with students, whose admiration for him knew no bounds. His many friends will
remember him for his good humor, ingenious solutions to difficult problems, love of
physics and devotion to his family.
Stephen Shafroth
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill
Herman Feshbach
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sung Kyu Kim
Macalester College
St. Paul, Minnesota
"Copyright (c) 1993, American Institute of Physics.
Individual readers of this publication [Physics Today] and nonprofit libraries acting for
them are freely permitted to make fair use of the material in it, such as to copy an
article for use in teaching or research."
Edward Nathan Strait
1919-1991
Twin Cities Friends Meeting
Weyerhauser Chapel
Macalester College
November 16, 1991
We are gathered to celebrate the life of Edward N. Strait, a much-loved husband,
father, physicist, teacher and Friend.
Edward N. Strait, Jr. was born on October 26, 1919, and grew up in Oak Park, Illinois.
He was the only child of Edward N. Strait and Almyra Lounsbury.
Ed graduated from the Oak Park River Forest Township High School in 1937, at the top of
his class. He was editor of the school newspaper, and was active in the stage lighting
crew, an interest he carried over to his college years in Madison.
Ed knew, when he entered the University of Wisconsin, that he wanted to study physics.
Experimental physics allowed him to use his hands as well as his intellect. Throughout his
life, Ed greatly enjoyed applying his ingenuity and creativity to the design,
construction, and improvement of equipment ranging from his family's cars to nuclear
particle accelerators.
After college graduation in 1941, Ed entered the doctoral program at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, where he worked under Robert Van de Graaff. He received his
doctorate in 1948, and remained there as a research associate for two more years.
Ed began his teaching career at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he
served in the Physics Department from 1950 to 1965. He was also director of the
university's nuclear physics research laboratory from 1955 to 1965. In 1965, Ed chose to
leave Northwestern, a research oriented university, for Macalester College, where teaching
was emphasized. He gained great personal satisfaction from teaching and never regretted
the move.
Ed chaired Macalester's Physics and Astronomy Department during the periods 1969-1975
and 1980-1986. He and Macalester physics professor Sung Kyu Kim wrote the book Modern
Physics for Scientists and Engineers, published in 1978. Ed's love of experimental physics
led him to establish Macalester's nuclear physics and accelerator laboratory. Although he
officially retired in 1989, he continued as Research Professor until his death.
A major turning point in Ed's life was his decision to become a conscientious objector
during World War II. His beliefs in non-violence and pacifism were shaped by the teachings
of Jesus as Ed grew up in the Methodist Church in Oak Park. His beliefs were strengthened
through his active involvement with the Congregational Church while in college and
graduate school. Ed refused to do military-related work in graduate school, and when
drafted in 1944 he entered the Civilian Public Service. This alternative service included
agricultural work, surveying, and firefighting in several camps run by the American
Friends Service Committee. It was this public service which introduced him to the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Ed first became active in the Society of Friends in the Evanston, Illinois Friends
Meeting. Since moving to Minnesota, Ed was a consistent and active member of the Twin
Cities Friends Meeting, serving as treasurer and clerk of the Meeting. He also worked
energetically for the purchase and renovation of the Meeting's first meetinghouse.
Ed enjoyed outdoor activities, from his membership in the MIT Outing Club during
graduate school to the later summer camping trips with his family, beginning with a trip
in a home-made camper trailer. He was able to combine this interest with his involvement
with Friends during several trips to AFSC family camps in Colorado.
For Ed, family was the center of his life. In 1948, he married Eleanor Pfund, whom he
had known since childhood, and they began the rewarding and challenging process of raising
five boys. Ed and Eleanor lovingly patched up childhood injuries, helped with many school
projects, and patiently taught five children to drive a manual transmission. They attended
countless school plays and concerts, and every graduation from junior high to graduate
school. Eleanor and Ed encouraged personal achievement and independence, and made certain
that their sons were able to follow their chosen paths.
Ed and Eleanor's love and respect for each other grew with the years, and was always
strongly felt by those around them. They were truly best friends over their forty-three
years of married life.
Ed was a gentle, nurturing, and unassuming man. Through many small examples, he taught
his family much about personal integrity, love, and acceptance of others.
Edward N. Strait died unexpectedly on November 12, 1991. He will be remembered and
missed by many people. He is survived by his wife Eleanor, his sons Ted, Jim, John, Rick
and Bill and their wives, and eight grandchildren.
© 1998 John
Strait |
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