Robert B. Duffield ’40

Bob died at his home in Norwood, Colo., on Dec. 26, 2000, after a brief illness with acute leukemia. He prepared at Asbury Park H.S. At Princeton, he majored in chemistry, graduated with highest honors, winning membership in Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa. He was a member of Court Club.

He received a PhD in chemistry at the U. of California, Berkeley. He then joined the first group at the Manhattan Project site near Santa Fe, later known as Los Alamos, to work on the development of the atomic bomb. At the end of World War II, he joined the faculty of the U. of Illinois in Urbana.

From 1956-66 Bob did nuclear research for General Dynamics Corp. From 1967-73 he was director of the Argonne Natl. Laboratory near Chicago. He then returned to Los Alamos for five years to head a division exploring alternative energy possibilities. He retired to Norwood, Colo., in 1978, later consulting at the Salk Institute Biotechnology/ Industrial Associates in La Jolla.

In the mid-1970s Bob and his wife, Priscilla, joined Rube Ross on a rafting trip on the Yampa-Green Rivers.

He is survived by his wife, daughters Libby Boorkman and Deborah Duffield, and a grandson, Miles Brokaw Duffield.

The Class of 1940