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
  • Ed-isms
  • Obituary in Physics Today
  • Program from his memorial service

  • My dad in his lab


    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!

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    Ed-isms

    • 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."

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    Physics Today

    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."

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    Memorial Meeting for Worship
    Celebrating the Life of

    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.

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    © 1998 John Strait

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    Revised: September 01, 1998