Nuclear Physicist John Robert Huizenga, Ph D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Huizenga
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130140745/john-r-huizenga
Awards and honors
Huizenga was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1976 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow) in 1992. He was a 1966 recipient of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award bestowed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

Personal life
Huizenga married Dorothy Koeze in 1946.[4] They had two sons and two daughters. One son, Dr. Robert Huizenga, is a prominent physician whose career has included a stint as team physician for the Los Angeles Raiders American football team.

Following his retirement from Rochester, Huizenga and his wife moved to North Carolina, where he continued to serve on advisory committees at major accelerator laboratories, worked to debunk cold fusion, and wrote his memoirs. Dolly Huizenga died in 1999. John Huizenga died of heart failure in San Diego, California, in January 2014, aged 92.

Published works
Huizenga, J.R. (2009). Five Decades of Research in Nuclear Science. Meliora Press, Rochester, New York.
Huizenga, J.R. (1993). Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century. Oxford University Press.
Huizenga, J.R.; Schröder, W.U. (1984). D.Allan Bromley (ed.). Damped Nuclear Reactions, Treatise on Heavy-Ion Science. Plenum Press. pp. 113–726.
Huizenga, J.R.; Vandenbosch, R. (1973). Nuclear Fission. Academic Press, New York

The life journey of Whiteside County native, John R. Huizenga By Barbara Mask Special to the Herald Feb 7, 2014 1 of 2 1 Dr. John R. Huizenga summarized his life in his memoir, "Fifty Decades of Scientific Research,” with this quote, “a life well lived.” His obituary appeared in the New York Times last week when he died at the age of 92 in San Diego, Calif. An inquiry from the Clinton Herald regarding Dr. Huizenga’s obituary appearing in the Times and his connection to Fulton, listed as his birthplace, prompted a challenging and rewarding research experience. John’s local connection was more diverse than just Fulton. He was born on a farm in Newton Township (Fulton address) and was baptized at the First Christian Reformed Church along with his four siblings: two brothers, Marvin and Everett, and two sisters, Gertrude and Kathryn. Looking at a photo of the Byers School on Elston Road , one becomes intrigued about this young 10-year old school boy living in rural Fulton, who , about 15 years later, is recruited to work on the Manhattan Project (Hiroshima bomb creation). He attended Byers School; first through eighth grades. Retracing his steps around Whiteside County, it is noted that John’s parents, Henry (Harry) and Josie (Brands) Huizenga were married in 1916. They rented a farm at Benson Road in 1917 and lived there until 1937. John commented to his children, later in life, how much he enjoyed learning in the one-room schoolhouse setting as he could learn, not only his lessons, but those of the other grades. He attended Erie High School for two years and then dropped out of school and worked on the farm, newly rented on Illinois 78, south of Morrison known at the White/Tichler farm. He told his father that he did not want to be a farmer, a disappointment to Harry, as the trade had been the livelihood for generations of the Huizinga family in the Netherlands and in America. John enrolled in Morrison High School and graduated in 1940 — president of his class. His daughter, Linda, commented that their father held two teachers in high regard: Mabel Borman (she was also principal when he graduated) and Perry Buikema. The family moved to a farm at 17384 Crosby Road north of Morrison in 1948, but by that time, John R. Huizenga had graduated from Calvin College in 1944, received his Ph.D from the University of Illinois and was employed at Argonne Laboratory and had completed his work on the Manhattan Project. John also credited Professor John DeVries at Calvin College as an influential mentor into the field of scientific research. Fulton relatives include first cousins: Marvin Huizenga and his family and Clarence Huizenga and his family. Marcia (Turney) Carter, who lives in Albany, Ill., is a maternal first cousin. Two other cousins are living in Morrison Dorothy Bush and Anna Ellis. John married Dorothy (Dolly) Koeze and they were married in 1946. She died in 1999. Four children born to them and surviving are Linda, Jann, Robert and Joel. John was an active member of the Christian Reformed Church when he worked at Argonne Laboratory and the family lived in Western Springs, Ill. He played a role in the founding of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., in the 1930s. John’s sister, Kathryn Disselkoen, of Wyoming, Mich., 90 years of age, recalls many childhood memories growing up on the Fulton farm and attending church at First Christian Reformed Church. Dad often served as an elder and then he would sit in a designated place up front in the church. Cousins, Marv and Clarence and Kathryn reminisce about playing together after church on Sunday mornings as the adults had their ‘koffie and koek.’ She remembers attending Byers School with the Vander Vinnes, Klimstras, Eges and Ammons. Her sister, Gertrude Drew, lives in Colorado. His brothers, Marvin and Everett are deceased. Dorothy (Ege) Stone guided me around her childhood neighborhood. Their family farmer adjoined the Huizenga farm at 5529 Benson Road. John’s younger brother, Everett, a successful patent attorney, was named after her father, Everett Ege. The son of a first generation Dutch immigrant, who made significant contributions in the field of scientific research, has made Whiteside County proud of their native son. Sources: Fulton (Martin House) Museum Resource Room; Rebecca Huizenga, grandniece of John R.Huizenga; Kathryn Disselkoen, sister; Linda Huizenga, daughter, Dorothy Stone; and numerous friends and relatives all willing to recall a ‘very smart and nice man.’ John R. Huizenga, 92, the Tracy H. Harris Professor Emeritus of Chemistry & Physics at the University of Rochester and an internationally recognized leader in the field of nuclear science, died on Jan. 25 in La Jolla, Calif.

Born in Fulton, Ill., Huizenga earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and chemistry at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1944. He then joined the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tenn. After World War II, he earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1949.

He held joint appointments at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory.

At Argonne, Huizenga was part of a team of researchers who examined the residue from the 1952 detonation of the hydrogen bomb “Big Mike” on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. On the basis of their analysis, two elements were added to the periodic table: einsteinium and fermium.

Huizenga joined the University of Rochester in 1967 as a professor of chemistry and physics, serving five years as chair of the chemistry department. In his research, he studied the excited states of actinide nuclei by high-resolution reaction spectroscopy.

In 1989, the Department of Energy appointed Huizenga cochair of a panel that investigated and debunked the “cold fusion” claims of two University of Utah chemists who said they had achieved nuclear fusion at room temperature.

He received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry from ACS in 1975.
Huizenga was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an emeritus member of ACS, joining in 1946.

He was the author of “Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century” and “Five Decades of Research in Nuclear Science,” as well as the coauthor of “Nuclear Fission” and “Damped Nuclear Reactions.”

Huizenga is survived by his daughters, Linda and Jann; sons, Robert and Joel; and three grandchildren. His wife of 54 years, Dolly, died in 1999. John Robert Huizenga was an American physicist who helped build the world's first atomic bomb and who also received more recent fame for debunking Utah scientists' claim of achieving cold fusion.

Following his retirement from Rochester, Huizenga and his wife moved to North Carolina, where he continued to serve on advisory committees at major accelerator laboratories, worked to debunk cold fusion, and wrote his memoirs. He died of heart failure in San Diego, California in January 2014.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Dec 21 2019, 14:10:54 UTC