Virtual talks on Weinberg and his archived papers on Apr. 20

“A Tribute to Alvin Weinberg,” including information on the new online database of his scientific publications and other documents, will be presented virtually to the public from 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 20 (Weinberg’s birth anniversary).

The presentation, via Zoom, is sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge and Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“The purpose of this public online event is to honor Alvin Weinberg’s legacy and to celebrate the preservation and digitization of his papers,” said Rhonda Bogard, who led the digitization of the papers, most of which were initially donated to the Children’s Museum in 1986.

Weinberg was director of ORNL for 18 years, from 1955 to 1973 and founder and director of the Institute for Energy Analysis (IEA), a think tank on climate and energy issues started in 1974 at Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He authored eight books and 540 scientific papers, and he wrote many letters and delivered numerous speeches, a press release said.

Presentations will be given by eight speakers, including several on videos, on his early history, his contributions to the development of nuclear reactors and power plants, and his influence on people and policies as a scientific leader and administrator. Weinberg is featured as a lecturer in one of the videos.

The speakers include Richard Weinberg, son of Alvin Weinberg; D. Ray Smith, historian for the city of Oak Ridge; Bonnie Carroll, founder and chief data officer of Information International Associates; Pat Postma, a friend of Weinberg and ORNL; Syd Ball, expert on molten salt reactors (which Weinberg helped develop and promoted); and Carolyn Krause, former science writer for The Oak Ridger and former editor of the ORNL Review research magazine. Gregg Marland, a geologist and climate expert who worked with Weinberg at IEA before taking a position at ORNL, will appear on video in his faculty office at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Smith will provide a demonstration of the new online database of Weinberg’s papers. Guidance will be given on how to search for and access archived papers of interest. The link to the database is http://bit.ly/digitalweinberg.

Here’s the Zoom link for the April 20 presentation, which is open to the public: Tinyurl.com/weinberg2021.