Background
HORNIG, Donald was born on March 17, 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Chester Arthur and Emma (Knuth) Homig.
chemist and university administrator
HORNIG, Donald was born on March 17, 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Chester Arthur and Emma (Knuth) Homig.
Bachelor of Science, Harvard University, 1940. Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1943. Doctor of Laws, Temple University, 1964.
Doctor of Laws, Boston College, 1966. Doctor of Laws, Dartmouth College, 1974. Doctor of Hebrew Literature, Yeshiva University, 1965.
Doctor of Science, University Notre Dame, 1965. Doctor of Science, University Maryland, 1965. Doctor of Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1965.
Doctor of Science, Ripon College, 1966. Doctor of Science, Widener College, 1967. Doctor of Science, University Wisconsin, 1967.
Doctor of Science, University Puget Sound, 1968. Doctor of Science, Syracuse University, 1968. Doctor of Science, Princeton University, 1969.
Doctor of Science, Seoul National University, Korea, 1973. Doctor of Science, University Pennsylvania, 1975. Doctor of Science, Lycoming College, 1980.
Doctor of Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1967.
He served as president of Brown University from 1970 to 1976. The couple had four children together: three girls, Joanna, Ellen, and Leslie, and one boy, Christopher. After graduating, he started work at the Underwater Explosives Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
While there, according to one obituary, he received an invitation to begin a new job, but he was not told what his duties would be, nor, initially, to where he would relocate.
At first he refused, but Harvard University President James B. Conant helped persuade him to reconsider. Thus, he joined the Los Alamos Laboratory, where he was a group leader in the Manhattan Project.
He worked on the firing unit that was used for the implosion of the plutonium device. He helped prepare the first atomic bomb, Trinity, and witnessed its explosion, the first detonation of a nuclear device.
He was sent up to the top of the tower twice the previous day to reassure a nervous Robert Oppenheimer that all was well.
In 1946 he joined the staff of Brown University as an assistant professor, and became a full professor in 1951. From 1951 to 1952 he was Associate Dean of the Graduate School, then acting dean the following year. Later became chairman of the Princeton chemistry department.
Shortly before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, he announced Hornig as the presidential science advisor.
Hornig assumed office on January 24, 1964, but did not enjoy good relations with the new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who enjoyed a poor relationship with many scientists. He left office at the end of the president"s term in 1969, and accepted an executive position with Eastman Kodak Company.
In 1970 he became president of Brown University, and he remained in office until he resigned in 1976. The end of his term was noted for financial cutbacks at the university, which was met by student protests.
Thereafter he became Professor of Chemistry in Public Health at Harvard University.
From 1987 to 1990 he served the Harvard University School of Public Health as chairman of the Department of Environmental Health. He retired in 1990. Hornig died from Alzheimer"s Disease in Providence, Rhode Island on January 21, 2013.
Board overseers Harvard University, 1964-1970. Board directors Overseas Development Council, 1969-1975. Trustee George Eastman House, 1969-1971, Manpower Institute, 1969-1976.
Board directors, treasurer Overseas Development Network, 1984-1992. Fellow American Physical Society, American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member National Academy of Sciences, American Chemical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Philosophical Society, Romanian Academy (foreign), Sigma Xi.
Married Lilli Schwenk, July 17, 1943. Children: Joanna, Ellen, Christopher, Leslie.