Bernard Vonnegut Jr.  

He attended Park School (Indianapolis, Indiana) and earned a B.S. in chemistry (1936) and Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1939) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

1945, Bernard Vonnegut went to work at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. It was there, on November 14, 1946, that he discovered that silver iodide could be used as a nucleating agent to seed clouds. Seeding clouds involves inserting large quantities of a nucleating agent into clouds to facilitate the formation of ice crystals. The intent of this process is to cause the clouds to produce rain or snow. Rain and snow-making companies still use silver iodide as a nucleating agent in seeding clouds.

Bernard Vonnegut left General Electric in 1952 and went to work at Arthur D. Little, Inc. In 1967, Bernard Vonnegut became a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. He was named a professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1985.

Bernard Vonnegutaccumulated 28 patents during his career.

He was a cinematographer, known for The Tornado: Approaching the Unapproachable (1972)

He was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 1997 for his paper "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."

Bernard Vonnegut , 82, Physicist Who Coaxed Rain From the Sky
By WOLFGANG SAXON
Published: April 27, 1997
New York Times

Bernard Vonnegut , a physicist and one of two researchers who first figured out how to wring more raindrops from cloud cover for the croplands below, died on Friday at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany. He was 82 and lived in Albany.

The cause was cancer, said his brother, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the novelist.

Dr. Bernard Vonnegut was a distinguished professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at the State University of New York at Albany. Although he formally retired in 1985, he continued to work in his office at the university until earlier this year.

His expertise in meteorological phenomena ran the gamut from lighting bolts to tornadoes to updrafts and downdrafts in thunderstorms. He developed and explored theories about the role electrical charges play in the formation of precipitation as well as in tornadoes

Dr. Bernard Vonnegutwas working at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady when the technique of cloud seeding took flight in the 1940's. A colleague, Vincent J. Schaefer, discovered that a tiny grain of dry ice produced many millions of ice crystals when dropped into a cloud of water droplets below the freezing point.

Dr. Bernard Vonnegut soon established that silver iodide got better results in nucleating clouds than did dry ice. Since then, no other nucleating process has been found that would rival theirs for making rain efficiently.

Commercial rainmakers use the method today to control drought in parts of the western United States, Australia and elsewhere.

But weather modification can also bring litigation. Rainmaking companies, meteorologists say, must move cautiously for fear of lawsuits from people down wind, whose rain is being ambushed, or from others complaining of flood conditions.

Bernard Vonnegutearlier teamed up with Dr. Schaefer and Irving Langmuir, the G.E. Nobelist, in a project for the Army Signal Corps, attempting to turn fog and clouds into rain and clearing overcast skies.

He was born in Indianapolis, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936, and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry there three years later. He worked for industrial laboratories and at M.I.T. before joining the G.E. labs in 1945.

In addition to his brother, Bernard Vonnegutis survived by five sons, Peter, of Albany, Scott, of Bennington, Vt., Terrence and Kurt, both of Albany, nd Alex, of Cohoes, N.Y.; and five grandchildren. His wife, Lois Bowler Vonnegut, died in 1972.

Bernard Vonnegut - GUILDERLAND -- Bernard Vonnegut , Ph.D. died April 25, 1997. Bernard Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 29, 1914.

He attended local public elementary schools, Shortridge High School, and the Park School, from which he graduated in 1932. He continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, majoring in chemistry, and received his B.S. in 1936. He entered the graduate School at M.I.T. and ] received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1939.

His doctoral thesis involved measurement of the freezing points of dilute aqueous solutions. From 1939 to 1941 he was employed by the Hartford Empire Company to carry out research on the surface properties and breaking stress of glass.

He performed this work first at the Preston Laboratories in Butler, Pennsylvania, and later at the Hartford Empire Laboratories in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1941 Bernard Vonnegut returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Research Associate. He worked on aerosol generation and filtration at the chemical Warfare Service Development Laboratories in the Chemical Engineering Department. From 1943 to 1945 in the Meteorology Department he did research on the icing of aircraft, the adhesion of ice, and the properties of supercooled clouds.

In 1945 he joined the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. In the chemistry group his research efforts involved the supercooling of liquid tin metal. Later, with Irving Langmuir and Vincent Schaefer, he worked on cloud seeding and other problems related to cloud physics. During this period he found that supercooled clouds co uld be seeded with silver iodide, and devised techniques for seeding with this material from the ground and from airplanes. In connection with his research in cloud physics at General Electric, Bernard Vonnevut devised instruments for specialized measurements, such as the vortex thermometer for measuring true air temperature rom an airplane, and an automatic condensation nuceli meter for measuring aerosols.

Bernard Vonnegut joined Arthur D. Little, Inc., n 1952. Here he proposed an idea to explain thunderstorm electrification based on the transport of space charge in updrafts and downdrafts. He also suggested that thunderstorm electrification may possibly be important in precipitation formation and tornadoes. In association with Charles Moore, he was primarily involved with research into atmospheric electricity and cloud physics. He also was concerned with research on problems of aerosol production and measurement, the miniaturization of electrical recorders, electrostatic hazards in industry, glass fiber formation, and the behavior of evaporating, electrified droplets.

In January 1967, Bernard Vonnegut the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York at Albany as a Senior Research Scientist. Here he continued his research, investigating electrification in thunderstorms, the role of electricity in precipitation formation, and the kinetics of nucleation. Berbard Vonnegut also holds the academic rank of Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science where he teaches courses in atmospheric electricity, atmospheric instrumentation and atmospheric chemistry.

Bernard Vonnegut is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Royal Meteorological Society,the Meteorological Society of Japan, the Weather Modification Association, and the Electrostatics Society of America.

In 1976, Vommegut was awarded the American Meteorological Society Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of 'Applied Meteorology for his pioneering discoveries of artificial techiques for the nucleation of ice crystals which have continued to provide the basis for weather modification'.

In 1977 Bernard Vonnegutwas awarded the Weather Modification Association Vincent J. Schaefer Award for 'scientific and technical discoveries that have constituted a major contribution to the advancement of weather modification.

Bernard Vonnegut is Honorary President of the International commission on Atmospheric Electricity of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.

In February 1984 he was named Distinguished Research Professor by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York.

He is the author or co-author of over 160 refereed articles in the scientific literature, 11 technical reports, 4 chapters in books on atmospheric electricity, 4 articles in encyclopedia, and a variety of shorter contributions in the scientific literature, book reviews, and popular magazine articles. He is the recipient of 28 patents.

Husband of the late Lois B. Vonnegut Father of Peter Vonnegut of East Greenbush, Scott Vonnegut of South Hero, VT, Terry Vonnegut of Albany, Kurt Vonnegut of Schuylerville, NY and Alex Vonnegut of Cohoes. Brother of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. of New York, NY and the late Alice Adams. Also survived by seven grandchildren.

Friends are invited to a Memorial Service, 12:15 p.m., Friday, May 9th at the Campus Center Assembly Hall at SUNY-Albany.

Contributions in memory of Dr. Bernard Vonnegut may be made to Langmuir Labs, c/o New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, NM 87801, Att: William P. Winn or to The Community Hospice of Albany, 315 Manning Blvd., Albany, NY 12208. - - Times Union, The (Albany, NY), Date: May 7, 1997, Page: B7

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Bernard Vonnegut , a physicist and one of two researchers who figured out how to wring more raindrops from cloud cover for croplands, died Friday in Albany, N.Y. He was 82.

Mr. Vonnegut, a brother of novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr., was a distinguished professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at the State University of New York at Albany. Although he formally retired in 1985, he continued to work in his office at the university until earlier this year

His expertise in meteorological phenomena ran the gamut from lighting bolts to tornadoes to updrafts and downdrafts in thunderstorms. He developed and explored theories about the role electrical charges play in the formation of precipitation as well as in tornadoes.

Mr. vonnegut was working at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y., when the technique of cloud seeding took flight in the 1940s. A colleague, Vincent J. Schaefer, discovered that a tiny grain of dry ice produced many millions of ice crystals when dropped into a cloud of water droplets below the freezing point.

Mr. Vonnegut soon established that silver iodide got better results than dry ice. Since then, no other process has been found t hat would rival theirs for making rain efficiently.

Mr. Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1936, and received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry three years later. He worked for industrial laboratories and at MIT before joining the GE labs in 1945.

Survivors include five sons and five grandchildren. His wife, Lois Bowler Vonnegut, died in 1972

Chicago Tribune (IL), Date: April 28, 1997, Page: 5

Vonnegut Family Index