Bernard Vonnegut
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Dr. Bernard Vonnegut (August 29, 1914 – April 25, 1997) was an atmospheric scientist credited with discovering that silver iodide could be used effectively in cloud seeding to produce snow and rain. He is the older brother of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut.
Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving his B.S. in chemistry (1936) and Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1939) there.
[edit] Professional career
In 1945, Vonnegut went to work at the General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York. It was there, on November 14, 1946, that he discovered that silver iodide could be used as a nucleating agent to seed clouds. Seeding clouds involves inserting large quantities of a nucleating agent into clouds to facilitate the formation of ice crystals. The intent of this process is to cause the clouds to produce rain or snow. Rain- and snow-making companies still use silver iodide as a nucleating agent in seeding clouds.
Vonnegut left General Electric in 1952 and went to work at Arthur D. Little, Inc. In 1967, Vonnegut became a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. He was named a professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1985.
Vonnegut accumulated 28 patents during his career.
He was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 1993 for his paper "Chicken Plucking as Measure of Tornado Wind Speed."
[edit] Personal life
He was married to Lois Bowler Vonnegut, who died in 1971, and had five sons.
He died of cancer on April 25, 1997, at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, New York.
His brother Kurt Vonnegut noted Bernard's work in some of his novels, and may have used Bernard's work with silver iodide as the inspiration for the creation of ice-nine which figured prominently in the novel Cat's Cradle.
