As reported previously (FPN00-56), LLNL laser scientist Howard Powell died suddenly of a heart attack on November 15 in Washington, DC. Former LLNL Associate Director of Lasers, Mike Campbell has written the following "Tribute to Howard Powell."
A Tribute to Howard Powell
I have known Howard for over twenty-three years; from the first time I heard of the "Laser Poker King" from Mike Boyle, my first boss at LLNL, until Wednesday, November 15 when he was coming to meet me and others in Washington D.C.
The wonderful event that celebrated Howard's life three days ago was filled with the recollections of many of Howard's friends and colleagues. I would like to add my thoughts on Howard as a scientist, colleague, and most importantly, as a friend.
The odds of Howard becoming an internationally recognized scientist, whose path would begin in a logging town in Washington State, took him through Cal Tech and Cornell, and end up at the world's leading high power laser laboratory, would be beaten by his chances of winning the state lottery this Saturday. It is a tribute to his intelligence, determination and can-do-attitude, that this is indeed Howard's story. These trails served him well in his scientific career. After a brief stint at McDonald Douglas, and in gas laser research at LLNL, Howard began his career in solid-state lasers. It is no exaggeration to say, as Bob McCrory of the University of Rochester and M. Andre in France did to me, that every flashlamp pumped glass laser operating today bears the stamp of Howard and his co-workers. He made fundamental contributions to the physics and engineering of flashlamp and to the design and operating characteristics of glass amplifiers. He was a major contributor, along with Jack Campbell to fixing the platinum problem that plagued Nova after its construction was complete.
When no one else would, Howard responded to the challenges of "precision Nova", the project, as Mike Perry eloquently put it, "to change Nova from an expensive blow torch to a quantitative high precision laser that performed the experiments on Nova that served as the basis for NIF. Technologies that Howard developed have been adopted by every major laser facility worldwide.
Howard also recognized the importance of "beam smoothing" when few at LLNL did and he and his co-workers implemented this on Nova. This technique has proven essential to the success of laser fusion.
Howard also played an essential role in the laser science and technology that underlie NIF. Howard wrote the multi-year laser science and technology development plan for NIF and he and his co-workers executed it. His team operated the beamlet laser that proved much of the laser science required for NIF. In recent times, NIF has suffered from a continuous barrage of negative press - it is time for the excellent work of Howard and many others, part of the good of the "good, bad, and ugly story" of NIF to be acknowledged.
As the leader of LSST, Howard greatly expanded LLNL's reputation in solid-state lasers. Perhaps most notably, Howard and co-workers developed and demonstrated the world's highest power laser, the petawatt. The laser has revolutionized laser matter interactions, and again in testimony to the lab's influence in this field, is now being copied at six laboratories across the globe. Imitation is truly the best form of flattery!
All of these contributions were for lasers that could only be used once and would take hours or longer to use again. Howard passionately believed that for LLNL to remain an international leader in lasers, lasers that fired multiple times had to be developed. Given this vision, Howard worked tirelessly to promote such lasers and their applications. He and co-workers made major contributions to such lasers for the DoD and DOE in the areas of laser machining and materials processing, directed energy and remote sensing and the numerous applications of short pulse lasers and their technology such as diffractive lasers.
Howard also fully committed himself in pursuing his true passion - inertial fusion energy. If his beloved DPSSL's (diode pumped solid-state lasers) ever power a man-made sun in the heart of a fusion energy station, the glow from the target chamber will not come from the 108°K plasma, but from Howard's smile.
As you see Mary, Howard and "Lady Physics" truly had a passionate and rewarding lifetime affair!
The traits I will remember as a colleague of Howard's were intelligence, work ethic, courage, passion, humbleness, caring and openness. His scientific peers worldwide recognize his intelligence. His work ethic was legendary. My automatic dialing for Howard listed LLNL as "home".
Howard's courage was a trait not usually articulated for physicists. Howard had the courage to pursue difficult tasks, to acknowledge mistakes by himself and others without malice and very importantly, he was not infected with 'not invented here' syndrome! He would readily adapt discoveries made elsewhere - such as beam smoothing and bring them to LLNL if it served to make the program better.
Howard was also very humble and not self-promoting. He took great pride in the accomplishment of the group and never began a talk with 'I did..." He always acknowledged the contributions of others. He would never try and make himself look good by demeaning others. Given these traits, Howard, like us all, would also suffer from times of self-doubt and his confidence would wane. But Mary, I know, you felt at times that you left him once he crossed the gate. Well, it's not true. He took you with him, his biggest fan that would dispel those doubts re-energizes his passion (including raise time!) and make him whole again.
Howard was also a very caring leader. He had no time for hate and he saw the value in his colleagues in the bad times as well as the good times. He did not waste his time criticizing or gossiping about his peers. I think the heartfelt response of his passing by scientists at NRL, like Steve Obenschain and John Sethian are testimony to this. NRL has long been the "enemy of LLNL" and Howard changed them to colleagues.
All of these traits served Howard well as a mentor and recruiter. He took great pride in serving this role for the young scientists, both men and women, in LS&T. They are his legacy and their challenge is to make Howard's vision a reality.
Finally, Howard my friend. I will remember his sense of humor and his love of family. Who can forget 'Harrison Fraud', with his undershirt (in July!) and black wig singing "Wild thing" at his Octoberfest! Howard took great joy in laughing at himself as his numerous antics at the lab parties and other events would always show.
Howard took great pride in his family and his love for them was always on his shirtsleeve (or undershirt). I particularly remember a long ride from D.C. to Penn State. Intermixed with his attempts to give me culture (Howard's passion to antiques and art are well known), he spoke endlessly about Thomas and Diana. Hats, entrepreneurship, Mexico connections, but most importantly, how close they were - he bragged of them being best friends filled the hours of conversation.
The measure of one's life is not the years they are with us, but in the impact they make on their chosen profession, the friends they make and nourish, and most importantly, the family that they help create love, and sustain. Howard did not simply pass through life, but as the Greeks defined happiness, he engaged it with the full measure of his capabilities. By any measure, Howard led a full life - a life that all of us can only hope that we are so remembered.
I will miss Howard, the scientist, colleague and my friend - but I will carry his memories for all the days that remain for me.
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E. Michael Campbell
November 2000