Herman Postma was an American scientist and educational leader.
20 Facts About Herman Postma
1.
2.
Herman Postma was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, on March 29,1933, to Dutch farmers Gilbert and Sophia Herman Postma.
3.
Herman Postma's father did not finish seventh grade and his mother did not finish high school he described his father as "very inventive" when fixing problems on the family farm.
4.
Herman Postma had a passion for education, not only his own but for providing it to others.
5.
Herman Postma graduated from high school in 1951 moving immediately to higher education at Duke University.
6.
Herman Postma took all available classes concerning plasma physics at Harvard and later took classes at MIT studying plasma physics and nuclear engineering.
7.
Herman Postma took Russian classes at Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as an adult while he was working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in order to ease collaboration with Soviet scientists.
8.
Herman Postma maintained a close relationship with Duke University, where he, his wife and two children all graduated.
9.
Herman Postma was a member of the board of trustees at Duke from 1987 to 1999 where he encouraged easier access to learning facilities and efficiency within the university.
10.
From 1959, Herman Postma was a full-time researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, largely focused on plasma physics with the goal of achieving fusion power.
11.
Early in his career at ORNL he was working under Clarence Barnett, measuring the cross sections of nuclear species, whom Herman Postma proved wrong by identifying inconsistencies in his measurements.
12.
Herman Postma decided that his laboratory would build one named ORMAK.
13.
Herman Postma had received professional management training which he put into practice, restructuring the management of ORNL.
14.
Herman Postma created the Seed Money Program which uses overhead funds to "seed" proposals that review committees consider promising.
15.
Herman Postma pushed to transfer research and technologies to recipients other than just government; he formed the Distinguished Scientist program with the University of Tennessee and involved private industry in research.
16.
Herman Postma retired from his position as laboratory director in 1988 and worked as senior vice president of Martin Marietta Energy Systems from then until 1992.
17.
Herman Postma suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy which restricted his movement.
18.
Herman Postma died suddenly of his condition while on vacation in Hawaii on November 7,2004.
19.
In 1960, Herman Postma married Pat, the former of assistant dean at the University of Tennessee College of Business.
20.
Herman Postma was an avid traveler which was reflected in his community efforts.