George Samuel Hurst (original) (raw)

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American health physicist and patent hoarder

George Samuel Hurst (13 October 1927 – 4 July 2010) was a health physicist and professor of Physics at the University of Kentucky.

Hurst was born on 13 October 1927, in the rural town of Ponza, Bell County, Kentucky located near Pineville, Kentucky. His father was James H. Hurst and his mother was Myrtle Wright Hurst.[1] As a boy, he had a keen interest in Thomas Edison. Hurst grew up on a family farm and came from a large family with two brothers and two sisters. In 2010, he died of a brain aneurysm and was buried at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.[2]

Hurst attended high school at Bell County High School in Pineville, Kentucky. At the age of 15, he enrolled in Berea College. In 1947, Hurst received a B.A. degree in physics and a minor in mathematics from Berea College.[3] He attended the University of Kentucky and graduated in 1948 with an M.S. degree in physics. During registration in UK, he met Rufus Ritchie. Ritchie became a longtime friend and the two worked on several projects together. After graduation, they both went to ORNL. In 1959, Hurst was awarded a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Tennessee with a dissertation titled "Attachment of Low-Energy Electrons in Mixtures Containing Oxygen."

In 1948, Hurst was recruited by Karl Z. Morgan and landed a research position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the Health Physics Division. His starting salary was $325 per month. He made significant contributions in the development of radiation detectors and instrumentation, neutron dosimetry and spectroscopy, and field sample analysis. While working at Oak Ridge, he earned a PhD in physics from the University of Tennessee in 1959. In 1966, Hurst accepted a position at the University of Kentucky as professor of physics.[4]

Hurst and the team of L.J. Deal and H.H. Rossi performed gamma and neutron radiation measurements at the Nevada Test Site during Operation Upshot–Knothole for the Atomic Energy Commission.[5] For Operation PLUMBBOB, Hurst was again asked to participate along with Ritchie at the Nevada Test Site to collect radiation dosimetry data for human exposures during the tests.[6]

In the 1960s, Hurst along with L.B. O'Kelly, E.B. Wagner, J.A. Stockdale, James E. Parks, and F.J. Davis investigated time-of-flight electron transport in gases. The group utilized ethylene, water vapor and hydrogen to study and determine time-of-flight electron diffusion coefficients and electron drift velocities for these gases. Hurst led efforts to investigate time-of-flight of electron transport in atomic and molecular gases.[7]

In the mid-1960s, Hurst pursued researches that involved electron swarm measurement, swarm‐beam techniques and swarm drift to determine electron capture cross sections in heavy water, chlorobenzene, bromobenzene, ethylene and ethylene mixtures.[8]

• IR-100 Award, 3 awards
• Union Carbide, Corporate fellow
• American Physical Society, fellow
• University of Kentucky, Alumni Association Hall of Distinguished Alumni, member
• Berea College, D.Sc., honorary degree
• University of Tennessee, physics department, Distinguished Alumni Award, 2005
• University of Tennessee, physics department, G. Samuel and Betty P. Hurst Scholarship Fund; support for physics majors
• Bell County High School, Pineville, Kentucky, notable alumni

Professional affiliations

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• Florida State University, visiting professor
• Health Physics Society
• Scientists and Engineers for Appalachia (SEA), founder
• University of Tennessee, Institute of Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy, founder, director 1985–1988
• Resonance ionization for analytical spectroscopy, 1976.[9]
• Method and apparatus for noble gas atom detection with isotopic selectivity, 1984.[10]
• Method of analyzing for a component in a sample, 1984.[11]
• Method and apparatus for sensitive atom counting with high isotopic selectivity, 1987.[12]
• Double pulsed time-of-flight mass spectrometer, 1987.[13]
• Sensitive, stable, effective at low doses and low energy, 1987.[14]
• Ionizing radiation detector system, 1990.[15]
• HVAC system. Radon monitor and control system based upon alpha particle detection, 1991.[16]
• System for determining health risk due to radon progeny and uses thereof, 1993.[17]
• Instrument simulator system, 1994.[18]
• Instrument simulator system, 1995.[19]
• Touch screen based topological mapping with resistance framing design, 2003.[20]
• Touch sensor with non-uniform resistive band, 2007.[21]
• Touch screen with relatively conductive grid, 2010.[22]
• Multiple-touch sensor, 2011[23]

Hurst founded or co-founded five businesses:

• Elographics, 1971. Developed a version of resistive touchscreen technology. Several patents secured. Electrical Sensor of Plane Coordinates.[20][21]
• Atom Sciences
• Pellissippi International, 1988.[24]
• Consultec Scientific, 1990.[25]

1. ^ Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911–1999. Database, FamilySearch. George S Hurst, 13 October 1927. Citing Birth, Bell, Kentucky, United States. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Frankfort, KY.
2. ^ Editor. (6 July 2010). George Samuel Hurst. Oakridger. Oak Ridge, TN.
3. ^ Ellis, Normandi. (Spring 2007). Sam Hurst touches on a Few Great Ideas. Berea College Magazine. Berea College. Berea, KY. 77(4): 22-27.
4. ^ Auxier, John A. (July 2010). In Memoriam: George Samuel Hurst, 1927–2010. Health Physics Society.
5. ^ Deal, L. J., Rossi, H. H., & Hurst, G. S. (1953). Operation Upshot–Knothole, Nevada Proving Grounds. Project 24. 2. Physical measurements of gamma and neutron radiation in shelter and instrumentation evaluation. Report for March–June 1953 (No. AD-A-995225/0; AEC-WT-789). USAEC, Washington, DC.
6. ^ Hurst, G. S., & Ritchie, R. H. (1958). Operation PLUMBBOB. Nevada Test Site. May–October 1957, Project 395. Radiation Dosimetry for Human Exposures. Oak Ridge National Lab., Tennessee.
7. ^ Hurst, G. S., O'Kelly, L. B., Wagner, E. B., & Stockdale, J. A. (1963). Time‐of‐Flight Investigations of Electron Transport in Gases. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 39(5): 1341-1345.
8. ^ Hurst, G., & Stockdale, J. (January 1964). Swarm Measurement of Cross Sections for Dissociative Electron Capture in Heavy Water, Chlorobenzene + Bromobenzene. Radiation Research. 22(1): 199.
9. ^ Hurst, G. S., Payne, Marvin G., & Wagner, Edward B. (1976). Resonance ionization for analytical spectroscopy. (No. US 3987302). Union Carbide Corp.
10. ^ Hurst, G. S., Payne, M. G., Chen, C. H., & Parks, J. E. (17 January 1984). Method and apparatus for noble gas atom detection with isotopic selectivity. U.S. Patent No. 4,426,576. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
11. ^ Hurst, G. Samuel, James E. Parks, James E. & Schmitt, Harold W. (10 April 1984). Method of analyzing for a component in a sample. U.S. Patent No. 4,442,354. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
12. ^ Allman, S. L., Thonnard, N., & Hurst, G. S. (14 April 1987). Method and apparatus for sensitive atom counting with high isotopic selectivity. U.S. Patent No. 4,658,135. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
13. ^ Payne, Marvin G., Thonnard, Norbert and George S. Hurst. (15 September 1987). Double pulsed time-of-flight mass spectrometer. U.S. Patent No. 4,694,167. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
14. ^ Hurst, G. S., Schmitt, H. W., Thonnard, N., & Whitaker, T. J. (13 October 1987). Sensitive, stable, effective at low doses and low energy. U.S. Patent No. 4,699,751. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
15. ^ Hamm, R. N., Hunter, S. R., Hurst, G. S., Turner, J. E., & Wright, H. A. (5 June 1990). Ionizing radiation detector system. U.S. Patent No. 4,931,653. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
16. ^ Hurst, G. S. (25 June 1991). HVAC system. Radon monitor and control system based upon alpha particle detection. U.S. Patent No. 5,026,986. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
17. ^ Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Hopke, P. K. (20 April 1993). System for determining health risk due to radon progeny and uses thereof. U.S. Patent No. 5,204,528. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
18. ^ Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Morris, J. D. (19 April 1994). Instrument simulator system. U.S. Patent No. 5,304,065. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
19. ^ Hurst, G. S., Wright, H. A., & Morris, J. D. (13 June 1995). Instrument simulator system. U.S. Patent No. 5,423,683. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
20. ^ a b Hurst, G. Samuel, Ritchie, Rufus, Bouldin, Donald W. & Warmack, Robert. (18 November 2003). Touch screen based topological mapping with resistance framing design. U.S. Patent No. 6,650,319. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
21. ^ a b Hurst, G. S., Ritchie, R. H., Warmack, R. J., Bouldin, D. W., & Kent, J. C. (4 September 2007). Touch sensor with non-uniform resistive band. U.S. Patent No. 7,265,686. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
22. ^ Hurst, G. S., Ritchie, R. H., Bouldin, D. W., & Warmack, R. J. (21 September 2010). Touch screen with relatively conductive grid. U.S. Patent No. 7,800,589. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
23. ^ Hurst, G. S., Warmack, R. J., Richie, R. H., Bouldin, D. W., & Ritchie, D. (31 May 2011). Multiple-touch sensor. U.S. Patent No. 7,952,564. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
24. ^ Hurst, G. S. (1988). Development of an improved detector for krypton-81 and other noble-gas isotopes (No. PB-91-225722/XAB). Pellissippi International, Knoxville, TN (United States).
25. ^ Hurst, G. S. (1990). Assessment of research needs for laser technologies applied to advanced spectroscopic methods (No. DOE/ER/30131-T9). Consultec Scientific, Inc., Knoxville, TN (USA).