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: As many have said, the amount of research that went into this book, and the resultant detail, was phenomenal. I'm glad I bought and read the book. It gave me insights and understanding that I didn't have before hand, related to the scien...   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.   Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan by J. Samuel Walker Amazon Price: $18.00 Customer Review: Samuel L. Walker has written a half-way decent introduction to the subject at hand, but it is not as good as many of the other reviewers think. Walker presents strong evidence that the use of the atomic bomb was necessary if the war was ...   Red Cloud at Dawn: Truman, Stalin, and the End of the Atomic Monopoly by Michael D. Gordin Amazon Price: $18.48 Customer Review: That's the day when the Cold War heated up; it was the day when the Soviet Union exploded their first fission bomb, the US lost its monopoly and the world becomes much more dangerous. Much of what is presented in this enlightening, fact filled book w...   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 ...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

About the HUs About This is True Subscribe Free to This is True Your e-mail: Find by name/keyword: Prev: Capitol Stepper Bill Strauss Next: Egalitarian governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus Complete Name List

Copyright 1998-2010 ThisisTrue.Inc, all rights reserved. May not be copied or archived without express, prior, written permission. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisisTrue.Inc, Ridgway Colorado. 9529