FPN04-72

In Memoriam: Herman Postma

November 8, 2004

Herman Postma, former director of the Fusion Energy Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), died unexpectedly over the weekend during a trip to Hawaii. He joined the laboratory in 1959 and made many contributions to the science and technology of heating and confinement of fusion plasmas in magnetic mirror and other configurations.

In 1974, at the age of 40, he was named director of ORNL, a post he held until his retirement in 1988. A native of Wilmington, North Carolina, he attended Duke and Harvard universities and did three summer terms at ORNL beginning in 1954.

ORNL's current strong ties to the University of Tennessee and relationships with other partner universities are also rooted in Postma's tenure as ORNL director.