Bruno Zwolinski, professor emeritus of chemistry at Texas A&M University, died Oct. 25, 2010, at age 90.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Canisius College in 1941 and a master’s degree in physics from Purdue in 1943, and then came to Princeton. In 1944, Zwolinski went to Columbia to work on the Manhattan Project. In 1947, he completed his Princeton Ph.D. in chemistry.
His research continued for the next 13 years at Utah, Stanford Research Institute, and Carnegie Tech. In 1960, Texas A&M’s president recruited him as a full professor. He brought with him funding from various American Petroleum Institute projects and founded the Thermodynamic Research Center (TRC) at Texas A&M (TAMU).
Zwolinski wrote over 400 papers on classical and statistical thermodynamics. TRC brought forth reliable thermodynamic property data on hydrocarbons (essential to the oil and gas industry) and non-hydrocarbons (important to the electronics industry).
He retired in 1991, and in his honor a TAMU-endowed graduate fellowship in physical chemistry bearing his name was established in 1992.
Zwolinski was predeceased by Marjorie, his wife of 52 years. He is survived by three children and two grandsons.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.