J. Lawrence Cassingham

Cassingham worked as a newspaperman, a movie extra in Hollywood, and then as a meteorologist in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war he was an entrepreneur, inventing the first practical portable Geiger counter in the 1940s, and later the nucliometer -- to capitalize on the "uranium boom". Since he was one of the few nuclear materials experts in the private sector, and lived near Hollywood, he was often recruited as a technical adviser for 1950s "atomic" movies and adventure TV shows. After retiring in the late 1960s, Cassingham moved to northern California, but was lured into a second career in the Silicon Valley, consulting at chip fabrication plants to reduce the number of circuits damaged by static electricity -- a major problem in the 1970s and 80s. All his life, Cassingham loved science, especially astronomy, so he really liked it when his son got a job at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and could get him current "inside" information. Summary: writer, interest in science, entrepreneur, high tech electronics -- the perfect blood line for the creator of This is True. My dad, J.L. "Larry" Cassingham, died in Northern California on December 23, the day after his 89th birthday. From This is True for 23 December 2007 Suggestions for further reading: The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes Amazon Price: $13.60 Customer Review: "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes is one of the most important books of the 20th Century, and comparable as non-fiction to "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer. The ult...   Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (PMC) (Puffin Modern Classics) by Eleanor Coerr Amazon Price: $5.99 Customer Review: A true story- make paper cranes and your wish may come true. A close relative of mine has pancreatic cancer -- she now has one thousand paper cranes, and the story in this book has given her encouragement. The story is based on a Japanese legend.   The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages Amazon Price: $7.99 Customer Review: I wanted to say I loved this book because it truly is a fascinating period in history. But it let me down for several reasons: 1)It did not include many facts; it was more about the girl's lives. Not once did it even mention that the sci...   Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself (Build It Yourself series) by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt Amazon Price: $10.17 Customer Review: This book is very good for brief interesting facts on WWII both on the home front and the basics of the war. It enlightens and expands the notion of what the war must have been like for many Americans. The projects are very clever and easy to make ...   One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children's Peace Statue by Ishii Takayuki Amazon Price: $5.50 Customer Review: Having visited the Children's Peace Statue in Hiroshima in 1994, I appreciated the background information that Takayuki Ishii effectively weaves into this book. I was moved by his account of Sadako's courage throughout her illness and of her classma...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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