The colorful life of George Kwei - Welcome to lise!!lise.lbl.gov/chbooth/pictures/The colorful life of George... · 2018-08-16 · July 25, 2018 The colorful life ... Los Alamos residents

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July 25, 2018

The colorful life andcareer of George Kwei

The colorful life of George Kwei http://lanl.gov/news/news_stories/2018/July/0725-kwei-heritage.shtml

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George Kwei was a masterful scientist, researcher and laboratory leader with an insatiablepassion for the arts. His personal collection included things like African sculptures,modern art, vintage wine and antique violin bows. In 1986, he got world-famous cellist YoYo Ma to play a show in Los Alamos.

George Hsing Kwei was a brilliant scientist who loved doing research forthe sheer fun of it, making notable contributions in several important fieldsduring his expansive 39-year career, which included time at both LosAlamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory. His work helped generate a Nobel Prize and contributed to theworld-altering Human Genome Project. He was a pioneer of molecularbeam chemistry and was a recipient of the prestigious Edward TellerFellowship.

That's not to say science was George’s whole life. In fact, he was knownfor having an incredibly wide range of non-scientific interests, each ofwhich he pursued with vigor. Of those, music was perhaps the mostfundamental, although he held art, food and fine wine in similar esteem.

"His favorite subject was whatever he was working on at the time on anygiven day”, said Larry, Kwei (LASO-MA-QA), George's son and a 30-year veteran of the Department of Energy (DOE), now stationed at theNational Nuclear Security Administration Field Office. “He was alwaysseeking to know more about the subject."

George would read everything he could get his hands on and then consultexperts to learn more. For instance, when Larry's sister needed a violin,George searched out references and talked with collectors and dealersacross the country to the point he found not only an instrument for her, butalso a lifelong interest in violins and bows, becoming something of anauthority on the subject himself. He was also keenly interested in Africanart, Turkoman rugs, modern art — the list goes on.

Precision building, hi-fi stereosand hanging with Yo Yo Ma


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Gloria Kwei, George's wife of over 40 years, said George was incrediblygood with his hands. He was as adept at machining precision componentsfor laboratory equipment as making perfectly-formed potstickers, usinghand-rolled wrappers made from scratch.

In 1985 — the year marking the 300th anniversary of the births ofcomposers Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel andDomenico Scarlatti — George felt it was the right moment to realize hislongtime dream of building his own double-manual harpsichord.

With incredible patience and care, George painted and polished theinstrument's cabinet numerous times to achieve a perfectly smooth finish.He applied the gold leaf trim by hand, leaving flecks on the kitchenlinoleum. The craftsmanship was excellent; the instrument was even usedfor a Los Alamos Concert Association performance.

George hand-built his own harpsichord from a kit at his Los Alamos home,inlaying the gold leaf accents himself. The well-made instrument was laterused for a Los Alamos Concert Association performance.


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Curiously enough, George didn’t play any instruments. But he waspassionate about music and loved listening to it.

Always searching for the best sound quality possible, George scoured themarket for top-notch hi-fi systems, going through a number of differentsetups before ultimately using his lab-honed skills to build his own stereocomponents. Over time, he amassed a huge collection of vinyl records andcompact discs — mostly classical albums, but also folk and jazz — and inlater years his garage filled with audio tubes and assorted stereo gadgetry.

Los Alamos residents who lived in town in the 1980s might rememberGeorge best for creating a New Mexico "first” in 1986 while serving on theboard of the Los Alamos Concert Association.

A few years before, George had met a violinist, Lynn Chang, who hadplayed in college with world-renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma. With Chang asan intermediary, George managed to convince Ma to perform on “the Hill,”along with Chang and pianist Richard Kogan (also a college friend). Theyplayed to a capacity audience in Duane Smith Auditorium in Ma’s first-ever concert appearance in New Mexico.


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World-renowned cellist, Yo Yo Ma (center), in 1986 — the same year George Kweipersonally arranged for the famous composer to play his first New Mexico show in LosAlamos. (Photo: www.csosoundsandstories.com)

Harvard at 16, a chemistrypioneer

George entered Harvard in 1955 at age 16, just four years after arriving inAmerica from Taiwan.

Upon graduating with honors in chemistry and physics in 1959, Georgetraveled west to the University of California-Berkeley to become the firstgraduate student to study and work under then rising-star chemist DudleyHerschbach — a Harvard friend, colleague and mentor.


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At Berkeley, George's research group conducted seminal experiments inmolecular beam chemistry that ultimately resulted in a Nobel Prize forHerschbach in 1986.

All smiles: George loved to do research for the sheer fun of it. He could make his own labequipment and often machined precision components for his experiments.

After receiving his doctorate in 1967, George spent several years on thefaculty at the State University of New York. He came to Los Alamos in1974 as a research scientist, conducting experiments at the Lab oncollisional energy transfer.

In 1982, George became LANL's deputy associate director for Chemistry,Earth and Life Sciences, helping launch several cutting-edge initiativesincluding a molecular biology program that later contributed to theNational Human Genome Project.


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George Kwei, right-center, with Dudley Herschbach, far right, and fellow UC-Berkeleygraduate students, James Jinsey, far left, and James Norris, left-center, in the 1960s. Thepool table was a good place for modeling various types of collisions and it provided somegreat teambuilding that created lasting friendships and collaboration (see below forproof!).

Back to research with a newfocus

Characteristic of his inquisitive nature, George returned to research in1988, but in a field totally new to him.

Over the next 14 years, he became a well-regarded contributor to thestructural studies of materials by means of neutron and x-raydiffraction, publishing over a hundred papers. He developed collaborations


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with scientists in Japan and across the United States.

In 1994, George moved to California to continue his research at LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory, where his wife, Gloria, was appointedhuman resources manager. He stayed three years, eventually coming backto LANL as a special assistant to the director.

Look familiar? George Kwei, Dudley Herschbach, James Jinsey and James Norris in the1980s, striking the same pose from their 1960s group photo (see above). George wasknown for his congenial nature which spawned a number of close friendships withcolleagues and others.

As an interesting aside, during this time, George drafted a letter for thedirector recommending to the DOE that LANL develop the capability tomanufacture pit weapons components after the closure of the Rocky FlatsPlant. Ten years later, Larry Kwei returned to Los Alamos to assist with theeffort to establish the W88 Pit Production capability and is now supporting


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the new Pit Production mission.

Fellowship

In 2000, George returned to Livermore and later received an Edward TellerFellowship in recognition of his technical accomplishments. He beganresearch into the development of science policy and the influence of thePresidential Science Advisors.

George's interest in policy development had a strong influence on LarryKwei, who focuses on scientific policy development and execution as partof his current duties.

Throughout his career, George was known as much for his enthusiasm andcongenial nature as for his research. He loved traveling to SLAC (StanfordLinear Accelerator Center) and Fermilab, talking to other researchers abouttheir work once his own experiments were underway. In his ownestimation, asking “dumb” questions was a great way to gain more insightinto the science involved.

Later life

Shortly after receiving the Teller Fellowship, George fell seriously ill. Hehad been taking numerous medications for years following a serious heartattack in 1993. The injury to his system and ongoing treatment hadweakened him over time, and he was forced to retire in 2002, unable tocomplete the book on science policy he was writing for his Tellerfellowship. He even had difficulty visiting Los Alamos because of thealtitude.

With big projects off the table, George developed a new interest in writingletters to newspapers on various issues, having a number of thempublished. He continued listening to music, kept up with tube technology


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hi-fi equipment, read widely and started collecting watches. His passion forthe arts remained, as did his enjoyment of food and wine.

George passed away on June 10, 2005. He was 66.

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The colorful life of George Kwei - Welcome to lise!!lise.lbl.gov/chbooth/pictures/The colorful life of George... · 2018-08-16 · July 25, 2018 The colorful life ... Los Alamos residents